Flammie Tales Bk1: A Wizard's Trials
by UltraZeldaFan
Summary: UP TO CHAPTER 8! A young man discovers a book of spells and his destiny to become a wizard. What trials await him?
1. Prologue

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Prologue

Deep inside the void where all beings go when they die, the soul of a cream yellow flammie was floating alone. She was about 12 feet from her head to the tip of her tail. Although she was very bear-like in size and shape, she had, on the top of her head, an unkempt patch of goldenrod hair. Her muzzle was curved and came to a beak-like tip at the end. Her baby blue eyes were extremely cute and glowed with innocence. Her front paws had four digits, one serving as an opposable thumb, while her hind paws only had three digits. At the end of every digit was a dark brown talon, and her pads were a bright pink color. On both sides of her maw was a single visible tooth. The ears of the creature were long and almost deer-like and were tipped with light blue-green fur. Finally, she had not two but four large, feathery wings on her back. These wings were tipped with the same blue-green color that tipped her ears.

If you managed to take a glimpse into her mind, you would only sense a black emptiness. She had sacrificed her own life to seal an evil force that was about to take over the world over 2000 years ago. Now she slept and waited to be reborn thus initiating her battle once again.

While it exists in everyone, the ancient art called magic has all but disappeared from the public view, but there exists a few who still take part in this ancient gift. Of these wizards, is Karmen Aridos, the owner of a plush shop called Plushtopia, who uses his power to help his costumers to achieve happiness by selling sentient toys called Synthetics who would inevitably fall in love with their soon to be owners.

In time, with or without the owner's consent, the toys always managed to transform the one they loved to the same kind of living toy as they were. Much of the time, the owner was shocked and horrified when they realized their toy's true intentions. However, occasionally the owner knew that the Synthetic only wanted what was best for the one they loved and appreciated, and felt no anger or hate because of their transformation.

In this case, the Synthetics and their owners would become greatly attached and live together forever. Clearly, Aridos was only wanted to help people be happy, and his creations provided the means for him to do that.

My name is Skyler Levan. I am 19 years old, and I'm bored. I've always taken an interest in magic, and I have learned that everyone possesses it, but it's become clear that anyone who could teach me its mysterious ways died a long time ago. However my views changed when I was on my way to another day of work at my local Target and I happened to find a mysterious book. I picked it up and read the cover.

"The Ways of the Wizard ".

Everyone who believed in magic believed that the art to wielding it had been lost long ago, yet here in my hands was a book proving the commonly accepted idea completely false. I decided to keep it and, because it was a rather small book, I placed it in my pocket until I was done with work.

It has been a few hours and I'm finally off from another long and exhausting day at work. When I finally got home and changed into some casual clothes, I remembered the strange book I found on my way to work this morning. I took it out of the pocket of my work pants and laid it on my table.

Upon closer inspection, I realized that it was bound in leather and the lettering of the title was written in what seemed to be gold foil. I looked on the back of the book and there were some warnings about the book. They read "This is a book of magic spells and training. If you have found this book, but cannot seem to open it, don't be alarmed. It is simply because I placed a charm on the book and it will only open itself for one who is worthy of the vast power contained inside it. -Karmen Aridos-"

The warnings only served to make me more curious, so I flipped the book so it was once again face up and attempted to release the strap of leather that bound it. To my surprise, the leather came loose very easily and before I knew it, it simply disappeared! When the seal was broken, I gasped in awe as the book grew in size and was eventually about twice as big as it was before, and to top it all off, it was about three times as thick.

When I finally broke free of my astonishment and opened to the first page, I suddenly felt as if a second presence was in my room. Before I could think about anything else, I was holding on to a staff about 6 feet long (I was only 5'10") with a strange looking crystal on the top. The crystal was very jagged as if not even magic could make it a sphere, and it was perfectly clear.

I read the first page of the spell book and it said:

"Hello young Wizard. I have taken the time and effort to make certain that this staff is now in the possession of its rightful owner. I expect you to take good care of it and do many fabulous things to improve the world with it, Skyler. Soon enough, you will be made aware with an ancient but very powerful energy called magic. You will know what you need to do when the time is right.

-Aridos-"

Now, I was REALLY curious! Not only had I somehow managed to find what may be the last remaining tome about the use of magic, but it had apparently been sealed so that only I could open it. On top of it all, I had been entrusted with a staff of my own to 'improve the world,' and all wrapped together in a personalized note from the author. I resolved to learn the secrets of the book as I turned the page.

**END OF PROLOGUE!**

Author's Ending Notes: Hooray! The start of Flammie Tales! I believe I'll take this time to say that I plan this pseudo fan-fiction to be at least 6 books long, if not more. True, my writing will improve throughout that time and I'll probably go back to this start and once again scoff at my meager writing skills, but the joy is in the journey is it not?

(I say pseudo fan-fiction because it's so loosely based on a character from Secret of Mana that I only really use his name for the name of a species. Well, that and I'll be borrowing some spell names from the Tales Of series.)

Many basic story ideas credit to shadowlugia249.

Look out for:

Chapter 1: The Flammie


	2. Chapter 1: The Flammie

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 1: The Flammie

My anticipation of adventures to come only grows as I turn the page. Before I could even create a fizzle, the basics had to be learned.

"Lesson 1: The magic of color

As the one of the wizards in this world, you will need to know about the elements. Each element has a corresponding color that, if you think about it, makes sense. Let's begin by revealing the six primary elements.

Fire: Fire is the element of beauty and life. Every life is a flame that was kindled by a single spark of life. Providing light and heat, fire is a very good source of necessary resources. Fire is also very powerful and must be handled with care lest it bursts into a mighty and possibly unstoppable blaze that destroys everything in its path.

Red is Fire's color. Lightning is a sub-element of fire.

Water: The contrary element to fire, Water is the element of emotion and change. When a life is born, it is given its own spring of emotions to draw from. Water can be used to douse fires and expedite healing; therefore, water is very useful. The element of water is also a very formidable force when used in offence as a torrent of water can harm even the toughest of enemies.

Blue is Water's color. Ice is a sub-element of water.

Earth: Earth is the element of physical force and will. The physical body of every being that houses the spark of life was once part of earth, and as such, will return to earth when the fire of life leaves the body. Strong and stalwart, earth is best used to protect all who seek protection, yet has offence strong enough to stave away anything foolish enough to take offence to it.

Yellow is Earth's color. Wood is a sub-element of earth.

Air: The contrary to Earth, Air is the element of freedom and wisdom. The element of air provides the living beings the freedom to move and connect with each other. Agile as air is, it can be used to remove binding magic and provide freedom to those who are victim, but it can also be used for a calming and healing effect. Vicious storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes exemplify the power hidden behind the element of air.

Green is Air's color.

Light: Light is the element of purity and good. The element of light is created when any being does something to exemplify the light they are born with. Light can easily be used to heal and empower anyone who is willing to receive its power, and provide harmful effects to beings of darkness. While light does not offer much offense, it has a very good synergy with other people and elements.

White is Light's color.

Shadow: Shadow is the element of corruption and evil. Shadow is most commonly seen when a being does something to diminish the light within them and let the shadow grow. There are, however a few exceptions. A wizard must be extremely cautious with the shadow spells he learns lest the corruptive powers of the very spells he's casting tears his soul asunder. Shadow spells are all about attacking, and as such, the shadow element contains the spells that are best in pure power, but power corrupts.

Black is Shadow's color.

Keep in mind that there are more sub elements, but you'll learn about those later.

Along with colors being assigned to different elements, every person has an aura of a certain color. The color of one's aura designates an element that that person is able to master. Let's find out your element by finding out the color of your aura!

You should feel slightly different since opening this book. You should feel the energy of your aura around you. To find out what color that aura is, you must take control of it and channel it through the crystal on your staff. While no magic will be cast right now, the crystal will still turn the color of your aura.

Find your aura's color and move on the next page."

I thought of how complicated the very first lesson seemed to be. The book wanted me to find my aura and its color. It was right. I did begin to sense energy flowing around and through me, but it was hard to actually focus on.

I tried grab at the energy I was feeling, but it just seemed like it was everywhere and no matter what I did, I couldn't get a hold of it. Then it occurred to me. Aura isn't something to grab onto and manipulate that way. My aura is a part of me. This seemingly simple revelation made the energy flowing around me much easier to feel and control. With great care, I filled my staff with my energy, and the crystal began to glow.

Red. The crystal is glowing red so, that must be the color of my aura. I looked back at the book, but the lighting seemed to change. Green? So, my aura is green? No, blue. Purple? Yellow? White? It seemed my aura wasn't a single color, but slowly transitioning through all six colors of the basic elements.

"Lesson 2: Your aura.

Your aura contains all 6 colors. That is a very rare trait. You are a very special boy, and you should be proud. You have the very unique element called aether. Aether is the combination of all the elements and signifies that you are able to master any element of your choosing. Given enough time and practice, you could even master them all. You will be able to defeat even the strongest foe.

Like all things, this gift also comes with a curse. You, being of the element aether, are destined to battle with the strongest of evils. Your road will not be an easy one, and you will face many hardships.

When you find yourself able to accept this great and noble destiny, go to the next lesson on the next page."

Aether? I had heard of such a substance in Greek mythology. Apparently, the stars and the heavens are made of aether. Why was I chosen to battle with the biggest and baddest guys? Was there something the book was not telling me? Maybe I should sleep this one off and go to the next lesson tomorrow.

On my way to bed, I got a call from my boss. Due to a technicality and him having a "premonition" he had let me go. What he said really wierded me out. He had wished me luck with my training and destiny. He also mentioned that if I survived my "big baddie" (as he put it) he would hire me back in a heartbeat. Admittedly, I was upset about loosing my job all of a sudden. It had only been my second job, and I had only been working there for a few months, but I enjoyed the work and was sad to see it go. It did, however, make me lose my last bit of resistance to becoming a wizard. I no longer had anything to lose, but everything to gain.

That night in the Dream World, I found myself staring into the eyes of a very cute creature with creamy yellow fur. It was about as big as a bear, but that's all I could tell. The beast spoke to me in my head as if it had been telepathic all its life. Her "voice" was so soothing and gentle. I knew it was a "she" because the sound of its voice as well.

"_Please, help me! You have the aura of aether correct? Please you must make me your familiar. If you don't the world you know now may be doomed. Please save me from this eternal void you see me floating in. Please."_

The whole time talking to her, I saw ... no ... sensed a peculiar thing. It wasn't an aura, but more like a color being placed directly in my head. I saw nothing but green, and from that green radiated an extreme fear. That moment she started to fade away. I was slowly waking up and making my trip back to reality. The second to last thing I heard the creature say was "_Flammie"_.

"Flammie?" I questioned as I continued to drift away. "No! Wait! What is a flammie! What did you mean when you said I had to make you my familiar? What did you mean when you said my world would end as I know it? Please, don't leave me with so many questions!"

The only other thing the creature said was "_Seryn"._

I awoke with a cold sweat. Was that a dream, or was a being long since passed away trying to tell me something? Flammie ... Seryn ... Wait! I get it, she must have been a "flammie" named Seryn. I couldn't help but trust Seryn. She had sounded so lonely and fearful. I wanted to help her.

I rushed downstairs to where I had left the book. As I turned to lesson 3, I already seemed to know what the subject it would be, and sure enough! The book read:

"Lesson 3: An aether aura and it's familiar

So, you are finally ready to accept you destiny. You being an aether wizard means you have the greatest task of any other wizard. You are charged with the protection of the very world you stand on. To give you the help you will undoubtedly need, you will be able to choose a "familiar."

A familiar is a creature you summon to assist you in any way it can. After choosing which creature to summon, you can choose to enslave it with a spell or charm, or in rare cases this isn't necessary because the creature WANTS to either save the world, or simply be with you.

After you save the world, you can choose to either set the familiar free, or keep it as a pet. A free familiar, although of free will, may be so enthralled with their master that even when freed, they will stick by his or her side always. Others, however, are so angry about their forced services that they will eventually break free of any spell or charm you may have cast on them to enslave them in the first place and promptly run away.

Before continuing, please think about and choose a creature to be summoned, and then move to the next page."

Think about my creature? There was no need for that after what I had seen. My choice was clear. I was going to choose Seryn the Flammie. Without hesitation, I turned the page of the book. This was where the pages had started to be blank before, but this page clearly had words on it.

"Lesson 3 continued: You're familiar

What? You want Seryn the Flammie? She has been DEAD for over 200 years! Why not just pick an animal that's alive now, or at least not be so specific on which animal."

The book was questioning me? "No! I _must_ have Seryn! She _begged_ me to have her in my dreams last night, and I will settle for no less." After speaking aloud my thoughts, I was amazed to find that the book was writing in itself!

"Alright kid. You clearly want Seryn, so Seryn you shall have. But just to warn you, this particular creature has her own battle to fight, and you will be expected to help her with that along with your regular duties." The book suddenly started rising about an inch off my table and glowing. Before I knew it, a large portal opened in my living room. Slowly but surely, I saw Seryn coming out of the hole. I gasped in amazement when I realized that the book not only summoned her for me, but it brought her back from the _dead_. What else could this book do?

I was finally able to see the full extent of what Seryn looked like. She was about 12 feet from head to tail. She was very bear-like in size and shape, and she had some very messy looking goldenrod colored hair. Her muzzle was curved and came to a beak-like tip at the end.

Her eyes were very cute and innocent looking and were colored a deep baby blue color. Her front paws had three digits and a fourth on the side that served as an opposable thumb. At the end of every digit was a dark brown talon, and her pads were a bright pink color. The hind paws of the flammie were almost exactly same except they were slightly wider and had only three "toes". On both sides of her maw as a single visible tooth. The ears of the creature were long and almost deer-like and were tipped with light blue-green fur. Finally, she had not two but four large and very feathery wings on her back. These wings were tipped with the same blue-green color that tipped her ears. I also noticed that from her chest all the way down to the tip of her tail was tough, leathery scale-like skin. Don't get me wrong, the "scales" only covered the part of her tail toward the ground. The other part was fur like the rest of her body.

The general look of this flammie can be described simply as 'cute.' Beautiful or gorgeous didn't quite fit as her beauty was more elegant and hidden than one would imagine those words.

By this time, the book had returned to normal and now had some new writing.

"There you go Skyler. Meet Seryn the Flammie. She is in a coma right now and I will wake her as soon as you answer this important question. Do you want a spell or charm cast on her to bind her will to yours?"

"Bind her will to mine? Of course not! As I said before she begged for me to be her master in the Dream world last night. I don't think that would be necessary here."

"As you wish. She will wake up momentarily. I'll just leave and let you two get to know each other a little better. Don't worry; I'll be back in about 2 days to continue with your training. You're going to need it." As I finished reading the last sentence of that lesson, the book disappeared in a brief flash of light. Not even a minute after, I heard Seryn awakening and starting to come to her senses.

Before anything else, when she awoke, she took great joy in her surroundings. She could see my living room, feel my carpet on her pads, hear distant cars race by, but most importantly of all, she had hope once again. As our eyes locked in place, I felt an overwhelming amount of blue flood my mind. But that's not all. With every speck of blue, there was a great feeling of joy.

"Skyler? Skyler! You trusted me! Oh, I'm so happy to be living again after these 200 long years!" I was surprised to find out that Seryn could speak like a normal human. "I'm sorry I had to leave you with so many questions last night, but you were my, the world's, last hope. And I see you also chose to not bind me. Thank you!"

"I somehow knew that you wouldn't try to escape. That and binding the will of any creature seems so ... cruel. Wow Seryn. You look so beautiful and cute!" I know that may seem I was hitting on her, but that was not the case. I was complimenting her. "Say, can you answer a few questions for me?"

"I would be overjoyed to. You have already brought life back to this lifeless body, so I'll return the favor any way I can. And thank you for the compliment. I suppose you want to know the answer to those questions you asked as you woke up. First off, I am a flammie. I am one of a very unique kind of dragon. You may not realize it, but dragons still exist in this world. Why, since I've been awakened, I've already sensed 12.

I know you're wondering what to feed me. Don't worry about that. The body of a flammie is specially made with vein-like structures just under our skin specifically to absorb moonlight. We then convert this moonlight into pure energy. This is also good 'cause you'll never see me ... y'know ... that."

I was simply amazed. These flammies were clearly magical creatures that got truly free energy. "Obviously I know what you meant when you said familiar now. Your fur looks so stunning. Would you mind if I gave it a stroke?"

"Certainly not. In fact, I'd greatly enjoy being touched again after so long. While you're at it, could you also scratch just behind my ear?"

Though that last bit confused me a little, I gently stroked Seryn's arm. Her fur was softer than anything I had ever felt before. It was softer even than the belly fur of the cat I used to own, and that was just her arm. Shortly after I scratched behind her ear like she had requested, and I noticed something I hadn't before. On Seryn's fur was an extremely subtle aroma of vanilla. It was then that I realized that not only was this creature so picturesque and beautiful that nothing on this earth even compared, but also that she even _smelled_ nice.

"You think I'm beautiful now, just wait 'till tonight when I'm able to finally absorb moonlight for the first time in 200 years!"

(Wait a minute! Did she just ... nah! She may be able to talk but she couldn't do _that_.)

"Before night comes, I have just one more question to ask. In my dream, you said that my world as I knew it would cease to exist if I didn't choose you. What did you mean by that?"

At the mere thought of what she had to tell me, Seryn's ears drooped.

**END OF CHAPTER 1!**

Author's Ending Notes: Re-edited once again. This time I actually took the time to go through and re-read the entire chapter. I am going to do this to all the chapters through 6, and release the updated versions at the same time as chapters 7 and 8 to attempt to make up for my laziness in updating. That said, on to chapter 2!

Look out for:

Chapter 2: The History


	3. Chapter 2: The History

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 2: The History

"You see, Skyler, around 2000 years ago is when I first hatched and took my first look at the world. It just so happened that my brother, Mana, hatched from his egg at the same time as I did. We were both pure of heart.

About a week later, Mana wandered off and stumbled over what seemed to be a shadowy violet crystal. He kept it a secret to our parents and elders because he thought they would take his find away and claim it as their own.

Many years passed and Mana still managed to keep his stone a secret to everyone including me. It was a shock to everyone when they caught Mana suggesting we take over the world. He was also starting to get darker in color. Every day his fur would get darker and darker until it was a dark violet like his crystal. When his fur had finally changed completely, the flammie elders searched and found out about his stone. They called it a "shadow crystal" and said it was evil and anyone who was exposed to it for too long would become evil as well.

Mana was eventually able to escape with his crystal to take on the human race by himself. I was the only one who could stop him because we were two special flammies. I was the world's last hope, and, at the expense of my own life, I was able to cast Mana to the void. This was my first death."

"Wait, _first_ death?" I gasped. "So, you have lived and died multiple times?"

"Well, yeah. You see though my body may pass, I and my brother were cursed to be reborn again and again because of the conflict between us. When one of us dies, our souls are simply cast into the void to wait for a time when we can be reborn. We usually, however, don't normally retain our memories of our past lives. In my second life, the legend of my brother and my battle had all but passed into ancient history, but all was not over.

We were, once again, brought into this world as twins, but this time, Mana's fur was dark violet from the beginning. Seeing this, the elders cast both of us out of the tribe.

We were soon discovered by a fairly old male human. He had studied where we came from and he had actually found the flammie camp! You should have seen the look on his face to see that there was a whole world of animals that he had never seen before.

After about a week of studding us, the elders and other flammies for some reason didn't really care, he wrote a note to someone, packaged us in a box, and shipped us all the way to his nephew, Alex.

I don't remember much about the trip there, but I do remember what happened when Alex opened the box. I was a little intimidated at first, but then I surprised him by jumping on him, bowling him over to the ground, and I could just sense that he had a pure heart.

Alex tried to get the same result from Mana, but Mana bit his hand and flew away. A bunch of stuff happened, but I'll just jump to where it gets important again. A few days later, Alex had learned buckets full of what flammies are.

He had also learned that the flammie bite he had received was transforming him into a flammie. He accepted this after I showed him flying from my point of view. Maybe we can do it sometime. I can guarantee you would enjoy it ... but back to the story.

Alex's first day of being a flammie, he had to learn how to fly and other things, but something awful happened, we had to battle Mana. Though Alex survived without even a scratch, Mana managed to do enough damage to kill me, but not before I was able to get him too. This was my second death."

"Wow. That's sad. I suppose you don't know what happened to Alex after that. And I would like to try seeing through your eyes sometime." I paused for a moment to let the rest of the story sink in. There were two things that had been nagging at me. "So you said that a flammie bite transforms a human into a flammie right?"

"Yeah. I'm glad you're listening. Don't get your hopes up though. You have to learn to be a wizard and save the world before I could do such a rash thing to you."

_ (__Once again foiled by responsibility!)_ "Yeah I suppose. Another thing that has been bothering me. How hard is it to actually kill a flammie?"

"Well, it certainly isn't easy. So difficult that many people believed that the only way to kill a flammie was if its heart and brain died at the same time. While this is true, we also die if we receive more injury than our bodies can handle. Most injuries we can usually recover from much faster than pretty much any other being, but in enough damage is done quickly enough, we will die."

"I get it. So it's not that he just happened to get lucky, he actually beat you up pretty bad. Anyway, were you reborn any other times other than today?"

"Yes, twice actually. The second time I was reborn is somewhat tricky to explain. It was me, but at the same time, it wasn't me. I had actually merged with a human to give my body life. He submitted willingly of course. Our two souls inhabited the same body as one soul. He was me and I was him, but he's long gone by now.

The third happened much like the first. Mana and I were born as twins in a flammie tribe that promptly threw us out. As usual, we had no memories of our past lives, but due to the shadow crystal's influence, Mana was still evil. We were playing around with what was obviously a human trap, seeing if we could get the carrot inside it out without actually springing the trap.

Not long into our playing, we noticed that we were being observed, but I don't think the human realized this. Mana's mind was made up as to what he was going to do with this human, and tricked me by springing the trap on me.

He then promptly bit the human's neck to let his crystal's evil envelop the human when he became a flammie. His name was Skyle Kelvin. He lay unconscious for many hours, but when he finally awoke, he promptly set me free. I had the same reaction I did with Alex two lives ago, but I still didn't know about that.

Later when Skyle had found out that his human life was coming to an end, he started strangling me, and I knew what I had to do. I pled for his forgiveness and promptly knocked him out and bit him to try to counteract the negative energies from Mana.

Then one night after Skyle had transformed, he promptly disappeared. I had no idea where or why at the time, but he was gone.

Meanwhile, Mana managed to transform almost every human in that town. To have any chance to survive, I, regrettably, had to transform some humans to become my friends and, in a way, my family.

I soon became pregnant and had to hide from Mana. If he got my eggs all would be lost. Skyle had finally showed up in that time and I was overjoyed to see him. He had witnessed me give birth, and as I fell into my deep 12 hour slumber, I trusted him not to watch over my children.

I was devastated to see that when I awoke, my eggs were gone and all my light flammie friends had been slaughtered. I started to cry over a picture of Skyler and I as I thought that I had lost my best friend, but when I saw him come to me, my mind jumped to the worst possible scenario in which Skyle had actually been the one to steal my eggs, and he was the one who ORDERED the attack on my friends and family.

When Skyler finally explained the truth to me, I found that I was right, but when he had ordered this to happen, he had been under the influence of Mana and didn't know the extent of which he was ordering.

He had recently broken free of Mana's hold of him and came to try to get help to retrieve my eggs. He was a changed flammie. He could now control the powers of the shadow, and had the mighty holy breath. Together, we were able to defeat Mana and his goons, but were forced to live on a secluded island in the Caribbean never to be found.

We lived a long and happy life there, occasionally trying to get a human to join our ranks, and I eventually died. I don't remember exactly how though. This was my third death."

"Wow Seryn ... That's ... tragic. So, I assume that you were reborn with the memory of your past lives when my book summoned you?"

"That'd be my best guess. Like I said, I usually don't remember my past lives at all. I wasn't exactly born naturally this time, though." She sighed slightly. "Any more questions you have for me?"

"Actually one." I responded happy to change the subject. "You mentioned before that you get more beautiful when you absorb moonlight. You actually said that right after I …" I blushed slightly, "After I thought that you looked cute. Did you actually read my mind? Is that something flammies can do?"

She chuckled. "No. I didn't read your mind and can't. But I can read your feelings. You were in a bit of a state of awe, so I just kind of guessed on what you might be thinking."

"Oh. That makes sense. So you're not a mind reader, you're an emotion reader. Right?"

"Yeah, but it goes a little further than that. I know what you are feeling, because I can feel what you're feeling. Haven't you noticed that while you're around me, your mind seems to get flooded with a color that makes you feel a certain way?"

"Yeah. It's kind of weird that I'm all of a sudden associating emotions with certain colors."

"Maybe for you, but for me it's normal. Those color coordinated feelings are coming from me. I feel what you feel, and you feel what I feel. That's how it is with all flammies."

"Okay … but how do you tell the difference from your own feelings from the feelings of others?"

"Because we can also feel where the feelings are coming from. You'll know what I mean after a week or two. You just don't get it now because it's so new to you."

"Fair enough." We continued to chat for several hours until it was well after sunset. Seryn was looking anxious and glancing out the window several times before she finally couldn't bear it anymore.

"Skyler, I hate to cut this conversation short, but would it be alright with you if I went outside and flew around a bit? Just to, y'know, get some moonlight. It's been about 200 years since I last did it, and I really want to again."

"You don't have to ask me to do that. Just saying that you want to go for a flight is good enough for me. This does seem like a perfect time to show me the world through your eyes, don't you think?"

"That's a great idea! Just sit down and I'll get the process started."

I walked over to my couch and sat down to get ready for what Seryn was about to do. I was not expecting the feeling I had next. I felt as though my mind was being carefully removed from my body and placed into another. I realized that this was Seryn performing the "operation" and tried to just go along with it instead of fighting.

Soon she and I had a constant mind link, and I was suddenly filled with emotions, colors, and memories. I didn't expect to see memory of a wizard by the name of Karmen Aridos. Aridos...Aridos... where had I heard ... no _read_ that name before? Wait! It was the author of my spell book. How did Seryn know about Aridos?

"All in due time Skyler."

For a moment, this confused me, but then I realized that I could feel her thoughts, memories, and emotions, so why wouldn't she be able to feel mine?

It wasn't long before I couldn't feel my own body at all, or for that matter, even see. It may seem strange, but instead, I began to feel Seryn's body as if it was my own, and literally see through Seryn's eyes. We were two minds, two souls both inhabiting the same body. We were still separate, but at the same time, not. She did, however, keep herself in a more dominate state, and didn't let me directly control her body even if I tried.

Seryn and I were on our way out the door to fly and gather some moonlight for energy. I felt my ... or ... our wings extend to prepare for lift off. It only took a few flaps and we were already over 200 feet in the air! This was simply incredible! The feeling of flight without limitations, complimented with the instant energy flammies get when they absorb moonlight. This is what freedom truly feels like. True freedom and energy that is totally and completely free.

Mankind has always had to work for their food, but this "moon energy" the flammies survived on was truly free. I was having such a wonderful time, I didn't even notice my … that is, Seryn's fur get even more fantastic. The feeling of the energy and flying was so thrilling that I quickly lost track of time and my grip on reality as I kind of fell asleep while still one with Seryn.

When I regained my senses, the first thing I noticed was that I was back in my own body. I was a little disappointed until I opened my eyes and saw something that was truly marvelous. I thought Seryn was pretty before, but her fur then was _DULL_ compared to what it looked like now. She had flown my mind home and placed me back into my own body. She then curled up on the floor next to me and fell asleep as well. I reached out a hand to stroke her neck, and when I touched her, she stirred and awoke.

"Good morning Skyler. Did you sleep well?"

Somehow I knew that, for the most part, she new exactly how I slept because she could feel me sleeping while flying. "Yes I did thank you. Last night was amazing! I never would have imagined that flying was that enjoyable. That reminds me, how long did you continue flying after I 'fell asleep?'"

"I continued to absorb moonlight for about 2 or 3 hours, and then I landed back where we took off and gently nudged your mind back into your body.

Flying is an amazing experience, and maybe, just maybe when you have fulfilled your destiny, I could ... no. I'll tell you at another time."

"Okay. What do you think we should do now?"

"Actually, it's time for you to continue your wizard training. How about cracking open the book and seeing what lesson 4 has in store from you?"

The moment she mentioned the book her eyes gleamed. I also remembered he memory of Aridos. What was she hiding from me? She wouldn't tell me now, so I figured I'd do as she suggested and continue my training. I looked on my table where I had left the book before, and sure enough, it was right there. I opened it to lesson 4.

"Lesson 4: Casting your first spell

Good morning Skyler and Seryn! Skyler, are you ready to cast your first spell? But wait! You still need to choose what element it will be. You as an aether wizard have the ability to master all 6 basic elements, and the sub-elements that come with them. Choose the element you want to start with and turn the page."

Hmm ... element to start with ... I wonder what Seryn thinks.

"I think you should start with fire. I've heard that it's the easiest to master, and since you are learning all six, what's the harm?"

I decided to take Seryn's advice and start with fire. I turned the page and the writing that appeared said:

"Fire it is then! Take me outside where we can practice."

I did as the book suggested and moved outside so I wouldn't burn any of my belongings. When we were outside the text on the book read like this:

"To cast your first fire spell, Fireball:

Step 1: Have your staff at the ready.

Step 2: Change the color of your aura to that of the spell (in this case, red) simply by imagining your aura that color and willing it to be true.

Step 3: Focus on the crystal tip of your staff and move the aura there.

Step 4: Gather as much red aura in the crystal as you can.

Step 5: Swing your staff to propel what then becomes fire."

With Seryn to read the steps to me, I found it much easier than I originally thought it would be. True, I failed to get the intended effect the first few times, but that was normal. The third time's the charm though. When I swung my staff I heard a massive crackling and opened my eyes to see a very large fireball going right where I had intended it. I had mastered the Fireball spell! It fizzled out before it caught anything on fire.

"Congratulations Sky! You learned your first spell, and with it, you also learned how to cast spells. Many other spells should come very easily to you from now on, and mastering even new elements will be easy for talent like that. I've seen some humans become wizards, but none of them were able to cast a spell on their third try!"

"Thank you, Seryn! Your praise means a lot to me." I was so extremely happy to be "ahead of my class" in magic. The next thing, though, I could never have predicted.

"I think you're ready now. I'm going to tell ... no. I'm going to show you how I now Karmen Aridos. I'm going to bring you into my memories now. Don't worry about sitting down or anything though. I'll make it so we both are in our separate bodies and physically inside my memories of Aridos. Are you ready?"

**END OF CHAPTER 2!**

Author's Ending Notes: And another one … bites … the … dust? That doesn't really make sense… Anyway, yet another chapter read through and re-edited. Lots was removed, and lots was added. I think I may actually be making this worthwhile to re-read unlike my previous edits in which I merely changed a few words or phrases to make correct things I wanted to say earlier unless someone decided to go back and check…

Look out for:

Chapter 3: The Evil


	4. Chapter 3: The Evil

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 3: The Evil

(_Bring me into her memories?_) I nodded wanting to know what would happen. Then suddenly all my surrounding seemed to fade into what I figured was Seryn's memory. I was now in a vast expanse of total blackness. All I could see was Seryn limply floating.

(_This must be the Void._) I examined. All of a sudden, I saw a portal open out of nowhere, and Seryn was being sucked into it. Everything went black, but when light started to return, I quickly realized that Seryn was nowhere to be found. I was now in what seemed to be a fairly modern room. There was only a large box and another human who looked to be about my age.

The boy opened the box and pulled out what appeared to be Seryn, only ... not. Instead of about 12 feet head to tail, she was only about six. She also looked more ... artificial. It was then that I realized that Seryn had been reborn more times than she originally told me, but this time she was not a normal flammie, she was a flammie _plush_!

I briefly wondered what this had to do with Karmen Aridos, but my question was soon answered when Seryn's memory flashed and showed her alive, but still a plush, talking to what looked like a simple old man. Seryn was talking with him, drinking what appeared to be dye, and asking him how he could turn her "owner" into a plushie like her.

The memories flashed once more, and I witnessed Seryn the flammie plush and another plushie flammie, who I assumed to be her "owner," talking to the same old man.

He showed them a strange looking arch, and after he pushed a few buttons, the arch turned into a portal to a strange other world. I saw Seryn's "owner" run into it without another thought, but Seryn herself stayed behind to thank her "father".

At that moment, all these images cleared and I was back in my back yard looking into Seryn the flammie's eyes.

"Oh, I get it. Aridos had somehow retrieved your soul from the void, and placed it into a plushie. He had at least once before been the source of your rebirth." I said aloud.

"Yeah. That is why to this day, he is still a father figure to me. He was even the cause of this rebirth." Seryn replied.

"You mean…?"

"That's right! That spell book of yours was not only written by Aridos, but his magic controls it. You may have thought that all wizards perished a long time ago, but the truth is, they simply don't show their powers openly anymore. Aridos is one of the most famous wizards to this day, and believe it or not, he is STILL ALIVE! He still runs his little shop where my plushie form was bought by the human you saw in my memories. Skyler, it is time for you to meet your mentor in person."

Wow. Just wow. Not only was I going to be a full wizard someday, but I was going to see my _living_ wizard mentor! Seryn crouched down low enough to let me climb on her neck, and took to the skies.

"Hold on tightly! Don't worry about ripping any fur out, it's stuck in there pretty good."

I grabbed on to Seryn's neck fur to keep myself steady, and when she felt I was ready, she started flying very quickly to our destination. We were going to Karmen Aridos's store called Plushtopia, which was at least 300 miles away from where we were, but we got there in less than 5 minutes. Clearly, a flammie can fly faster than a car could ever travel.

When Seryn came to Plushtopia, she gently landed in a skylight that had been opened for us. Clearly he had been expecting us any time.

"Seryn, is that you?" I heard the same voice that was talking to Seryn when she was a plushie. This was the voice of the man she called "father". "Oh! Seryn! It's so nice to meet the real you! I see I was very close with the plush form I constructed for you way back when. What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be looking after my aether apprentice, Skyler? I mean, you could accomplish a similar result as you did with Rye on your own."

Seryn blushed a bit. "Actually, funny you should mention him. I actually brought him to meet you. Skyler, can you get down by yourself, or would you like some help?"

Determined to show that I was competent, I slid down Seryn's neck and landed on my feet. I revealed my self to Aridos. He looked very old, but he obviously still had some gusto in him. "Good evening, Sir." I politely said.

"Sir?" Aridos chuckled. "Quit with the formalities! Just think of me as a sort of father." His eyes seemed to gleam a little. Did he know something I didn't?

"Alright, what would have me call you then?" I asked.

"Aridos will do. I just hate formal titles. Anyway," he turned to Seryn, "you shouldn't have come here quite yet. I still need Skyler to learn much before he's ready to move on."

Seryn sighed. "I suppose you're right. I just thought that Skyler would like to meet you in person. He seemed really curious about how I knew you last night when our minds were fused."

"I see." Aridos said knowingly. "You told him about you're last life and wanted him to meet me. I suppose there is no harm done, but you two really do need to get back.

Seryn perked up a bit. "Alright. We'll just be on our way then. It was nice seeing you again."

Suddenly Aridos exclaimed "Wait a moment! I still need to reveal something to you Seryn. It is just a warning, but I don't want you to tell the boy before the right time." Seryn lifted her ears and carefully leaned closer to Aridos so he could tell him this secret. After they were done, I could feel a hint of fear in flow from Seryn as she lifted me back on to her neck.

"Good bye, father. Thanks for your time!"

"Bye Aridos!" I waved as Seryn flew me back home.

By the time we arrived back home, the moon was starting to rise, and Seryn's fur was starting to lose its sheen. She put me on the ground and told me that she was going to go on short flight. I was feeling absolutely exhausted, so I just started to head for bed.

Almost three months have passed since Seryn took me to see Aridos. I have learned many new spells since then, and I was feeling pretty confident about taking on this great evil. Seryn too has been practicing her fighting skills. Soon we were going to be a match no one could beat! Seryn had also explained to me about a flammie's initial ability to exhale not one but _two _different elements. On top of these two elements that any flammie could have, there were also some other special elements that only certain flammies had access to. These special breaths usually meant that that flammie had a very special destiny, or had accomplished something amazing. She told me that because of her eternal conflict with her brother, she was gifted with Flammie Breath, which essentially could do almost anything she needed it to.

Today was the day that I came face to face with the evil that I would be facing. He had flown in directly to my home where I was practicing magic and quickly made his presence known. He was a flammie like Seryn only he was about 2 feet taller, he had a dark violet fur, piercing red eyes, dark blue claws and pads, and he had two teeth sticking out of each side of his maw instead of one. His wings and ears were tipped with the same red as his eyes. At one look, I knew he was pure evil.

I quickly tried to fling a fire ball at him, but he just smacked it away with one of his wings. I tried every offensive spell I knew, but none of them had any effect on the monster. He was baring his fangs looking directly at me and coming closer. He was going to bite me and make me his minion when he was suddenly hit by a burst of blue flame.

"YOU! You piece of flammie scum! How did you get here?" He bellowed.

Seryn quickly flew over to me and told me to cast blind. It was a light spell. I channeled my aura into my staff's crystal and made it turn a pure white color. The light from my staff was so bright that it succeeded in blinding the evil flammie. Seryn at that moment picked me up and flew as far away in as little time possible.

As we escaped, I heard the evil shouting. "You can't hide forever Seryn! When I track you down, I am going to kill you, turn the kid to my side, and take my rightful place as king of the world!"

When I had finally regained my voice, I inquired, "Seryn, what was that? What did it want with me, and why is it threatening us?"

"Not a 'what' but a 'who'. That was my brother, Mana. He is the evil you are to face. He is trying to bite you to turn you into an evil flammie that lives to serve him. I won't let him get you Skyler. You must hurry to finish your training before he finds us again. I'm going to ask Aridos if he can do anything to shelter us from the evil that will, until destroyed, hunt for us specifically. We can't just let him roam forever, but he is still too strong for us now."

When we arrived at Plushtopia, Aridos seemed to know the situation and quickly escorted us to the large arch that I had seen Seryn step through in her memories.

"I think I know just the place where you can hide." He grunted. "Seryn, do you remember Rye? He was the one you married when you were a plush." Seryn blushed at this fact. She obviously remembered him, but why was she blushing? "I am going to send you back to the world you and he escaped to. It should give you enough time to teach Skyler what he needs to know."

"But I don't know if ..." Seryn began to protest, but quickly realized that time was waning. "Never mind we'll do what we have to do."

Aridos went over to the arch and once again pressed some buttons to open the portal. When the portal opened, Seryn quickly ran through the portal. I was following her when Aridos stopped me.

"Take this with you." He handed me a large backpack. It was white toward the back, but faded to a goldenrod in the front. "It has your spell book and a few other necessities." I gratefully took the pack and strapped it around my back. I then said good bye to Aridos and rushed through the portal.

Seryn was waiting for me. We were about to walk around and explore this new world when we were stopped.

"Welcome to Plushtopia home of the ... Seryn? Is that you? Don't you remember? It's me, Rye. I thought you were gone!"

**END OF CHAPTER 3!**

Author's Ending Notes: … I think this chapter was actually shorter than the last one. And also, when Mana says "How did you get here?" the spell checker called that a sentence fragment. Silly spell check. You don't need to do my editing for me.

Look out for:

Chapter 4: Plushtopia


	5. Chapter 4: Plushtopia

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 4: Plushtopia

"Welcome to Plushtopia home of … Seryn? Is that you? Don't you remember? It's me, Rye. I thought you were gone!" There was a stuffed flammie looking and speaking to Seryn. His fur was clearly artificial, but still felt very realistic, and was almost the same color as Seryn's, but slightly darker, and his unruly hair, one of the trademarks of a flammie, was a yellow gold color unlike any other.

His flammie 'scales' from the bottom tip of his tail to his neck was made of a velvety cloth. His wings, though also artificial, looked as though they were made of real flammie feathers, and were tipped, along with his ears, with the same color as Seryn's.

Even though his mouth seemed to be just a few stitches, he could open and close it just like a normal flammie. Finally his eyes were hard plastic, but they still functioned normally. Who was this artificial flammie, and how did he know Seryn?

"It's good to see you again Rye. I suppose I should introduce the wizard whom I entered with. Rye, meet Skyler. Skyler, meet Rye, my husband from my plushie life." Seryn turned back to Rye. She obviously had some major explaining to do. Rye, on the other hand, looked puzzled beyond belief.

"Wait, what do you mean by your 'plushie life'? Is there a secret you've been hiding from me all these years?" _(Well, at the time Seryn herself didn't really know the full story, so I'd say it was justified.) _"Why did you just vanish so long ago, and why now do you choose to return?" Rye sounded very shocked and confused, but there was something else ... jealousy?

Then it hit me. He was feeling betrayed! Seryn had made a life-long commitment to him, but one day she simply disappeared. Now not only did she suddenly show up in a completely different form, but with another person. But ... he had it all wrong! I mean, Seryn is my friend for sure, but I didn't _love _her. Even if I did, there would be no way the feeling was mutual. Besides, it'd be ... well ... _weird_ for a human to fall in love with a flammie. Right?

"Rye, listen to me! Stop making assumptions! I didn't just disappear. It was simply my time to ... well ... move on. Listen, right now isn't the time to discuss it. The outside world is in terrible danger, and we came here to seek a place for Skyler to prepare to face the evil that threatens to consume the world. He is training to be a wizard so he can beat the evil once and for all. Please, can we just set up a place for him to sleep and practice his spells? I promise that I'll explain everything to you tonight."

"Oh...okay, but you!" Rye looked at me. "You are not to cast a single spell until this has all been sorted out alright?"

"But I need to practice if I'm ever to be ready to face Ma..."

"No!" He interrupted calmly, but fiercely. "I still don't know if I can really trust you. I'll give you a place to stay, but not a single spell until Seryn and I have our discussion. Understand?" _(What else can I say? If I think about it, I would be the same way if I was in his position. But my time was limited! I couldn't just blow my short time!)_

"But I ..."

"It's okay Skyler. I'll have this all sorted out by tomorrow. In the meantime, why don't you explore a little and try to find a good place to practice your spells? This is truly a marvelous world, and I know you'll like it. Besides, I doubt Mana will be able to find us for quite a while." This time it was Seryn who had interrupted me. Clearly this was a battle I wasn't going to win.

"Fine." I sighed. "You win. Just show me where to sleep." Rye nodded and beckoned for me to follow. After a short time walking, Rye lead me to what seemed to be a simple one room cottage, but that preconception changed dramatically when I entered the house

Inside the little 'cottage' was a vast hallway with many doors on each side. Rye walked down the corridor a little ways and turned and opened a seemingly random door.

"This is your room. If you need anything, just ask." The room seemed pretty bare. All there seemed to be was a fairly small bed. _(Oh well, I'll have to spend most of my time in this world outside anyway.)_

"Thank you." I said feeling slightly disappointed. "I'm going to go explore a little like Seryn suggested if it's not too much of a hassle." I had hoped that Rye would simply agree and step to the side, but to my chagrin he had something else in mind.

"Actually, it's getting quite late, and I would greatly appreciate it if you turned in for the night. Going through the plushie gate for the first time takes much more energy than you first realize. When I first got here I didn't sleep right away and ended up snoozing for a whole day. Why don't you just crawl into bed for now and explore tomorrow?" Rye still sounded a little scornful, but it was clear that the walk had softened him up a bit.

"Really," I tried to sound convincing, "even if I did go to bed now, I'd probably have a difficult time actually falling asleep." I had to fake enthusiasm because he was right. I was actually really tired.

"I assure you, you will have no trouble at all sleeping in this bed." He looked down as if he felt guilty about something. The next thing he said shocked me. "I'm sorry about blowing up on you earlier. Whatever happened to Seryn, I'm sure it wasn't your fault. But I still need to talk with Seryn before I can fully trust you, so please, just sleep for tonight and I promise I will give you a tour of Plushtopia in the morning."

"I see." _(So the truth is he wants me temporarily out of the picture… great.)_ "There's not going to be any changing you mind on this is there." He shook his head. "Alright then. I guess I'll see you in the morning.

"Thanks for understanding." Rye began to close the door, but I stopped him.

"Wait. I know you feel a little betrayed by Seryn right now, but I just want to say that our relationship isn't like you think. Yeah, there's no denying our friendship, but I can't exactly say that I love her. So, if not for my sake, than for Seryn's, don't be jealous of us."

He paused a moment before quietly shutting the door behind him. I took a few steps into my new home. As exhausted as I was from my earlier encounter with Mana and now this, I opted against going to bed right away. I wanted to first get a feel for the room I'd be staying in.

I started to look around, and realized that my whole room was made entirely of cloth. Curiosity got the better of my and I decided to touch the wall and floor to see how they felt. The wall had a smooth velvety feeling when I touched it, and the floor was like soft velvet. (_If the walls and floor are this soft, just imagine what the bed is like.)_

Now looking forward to trying out the bed, I stripped to my underwear and slipped into the bed. The moment my head hit that pillow, I felt an extreme sense of drowsiness. This had to be the most comfortable bed in the universe! It was so cozy and soft. It felt as though I was floating in the middle of some perfectly temperate air. My eye lids began to seem heavier and heavier. I was slipping into a deep sleep.

As I finally closed my eyes, I felt myself being instantly dragged into the Dream World. Was it a charm or a spell? No. No, this was because of a feeling of pure comfort.

I was surrounded by what seemed to be a thick white mist. Suddenly, a voice projected out from the unknown. It sounded cool and collected, and held the authority one would expect from a king, but also the gentle warmness of a parent caring for his child.

"You'll soon begin your wizard training again, Skyler." _(Who is this?)_ I could sense a feeling of concern from the unknown being. "Heed my warning young hero. Your time in this world will be shorter than you expect. Practice well and learn all you can before your time here ends." I felt my self starting to fade away. "There is one, however whose trust you must earn through self-sacrifice. Only then can this conflict truly end. Though your host does not yet trust you, you can place all your faith on him." I faded even further. "Farewell young hero."

"No! Wait! Tell me more!" I screamed as the white mist began to vanish. "At least tell me your name!" It was too late. The entity was already gone and I was already starting to awaken from my slumber. No! There were still too many questions. The dream finally faded into a black nothingness.

I woke up snuggled under the exceptionally cozy blankets of my bed. As I got up, I stretched my stiff limbs and walked over to the window in my room.

_(__Wait ... a window? Since when was this here? I could have sworn that there was no window in my room when I had fallen asleep.)_ The window was really nothing more than a hole in the cloth wall. There was no glass in it or anything like that. _(Oh well, I guess the sudden appearance of a window doesn't really matter.)_ I glanced outside and saw that the sun was starting to creep up. Morning was approaching. (_How did such a seemingly short dream manage to last all night?)_

As I slowly turned to head outside to try to find Seryn and Rye, I noticed sitting near my new window, was a small cloth dresser. (_Okay I KNOW this wasn't here.) _I curiously looked inside it and found some very odd looking clothes. There was a light green t-shirt with a picture of a pair of flammies on it.

One of the flammies looked exactly like Seryn. I saw that the other flammie was slightly bigger than Seryn, and instead of her creamy yellow fur, this flammie had light mint green color for its fur. Seryn's hair was goldenrod, but this flammie had a dark blue for its hair color.

The 'scales' and pads of the mysterious flammie were darker green than its fur, and the claws were dark brown. The tips of its ears and wings were the same color of Seryn's hair, and finally, its eyes were a deep purple color.

Seryn and the other flammie were flying side by side on a moonlit night. They both looked very ecstatic, and for some reason their tails were twisted together. Who was this other flammie with Seryn? It wasn't any one I've ever seen, but then again, Seryn was literally the only flammie I had seen. I looked on the inside of the shirt and saw that on the tag it read: "For Skyler." Clearly whoever made this made it especially for me.

The pants in the drawer felt strangely ... feathery. I had a hunch and looked at the tag of these pants and sure enough, "For Skyler" was written. I compared the two articles of clothing and noticed something weird, maybe even a little ominous. The color of the feathery pants was the _exact_ same color as the fur on the mystery flammie. Near the end of the pant legs, also there was a change in shade. The light mint green became the darker color of the unknown flammie's pads, and finally about an inch from the end, the green turned into the brown of the claws of the unknown flammie. Weird. Why would anyone go through all the trouble to make the pants fit the picture so well? I tried the clothes on and, to my surprise, they fit perfectly.

Now wearing the new clothes that some unknown force had made for me, I started to head for the door to my room, but I was stopped when I saw Seryn asleep in a corner of my room. I don't know how I had missed the steady breathing I now heard from her, and she looked so cute and peaceful with the steady rise and fall of her pelt. I tried my best to quietly tip toe to the other side of the room to open the door and try to find Rye, but for the third time today, I was surprised.

"Good morning, Skyler." I jumped when Seryn suddenly spoke to me. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I slept wonderfully thank you. I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, not at all. I actually fell asleep waiting for you to wake up." For the first time that morning, Seryn noticed my clothes. "Oh you found them! Rye will be so happy. He made those just for you, you know. Anyway, it's about time for Rye and I to take you on a tour of Plusthpoia. Don't worry. Everything has been worked out between us."

"Wait, back up a moment. Rye made these? For me?" Seryn nodded while her mouth was open wide in a big yawn. "That was very kind of him to do for someone he doesn't trust."

"It's actually his way of saying that he's sorry for not trusting you in the first place. After hearing my story, he trusted you completely and decided to make you those clothes to show it." Seryn looked at my feet. "Hey, you're not wearing the socks." Socks? I looked back on the mini dresser and saw that sitting on the top of it was a nice pair of socks. I picked them up and felt that they were very soft and seemed very comfortable. I noticed while putting them on that they were the same color as the pads of the mystery flammie.

"So, he made these to show me that he trusts me now. That's nice to hear. At any rate, shall we head outside to find Rye for that tour?" I was very excited to see more of this new world, but more than that, I just wanted to ask Rye some questions.

On my way to grab my shoes, my thoughts turned to the words in my dream. Maybe I had gotten Rye to trust me by staying in my room last night and sacrificing my chance to explore around a bit. Maybe that was what the voice in my dream was talking about.

"Skyler?" Seryn's voice made me come to my senses. I found myself looking at Seryn's concerned face "Skyler, we were about to leave to find Rye remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go."

"Are you sure you don't need more sleep or something? You suddenly fainted and I was concerned about you. Maybe we'll reschedule the tour for another day. But today we still need to meet Rye. He found a perfect place for you to practice your spells, and he wants to show it to you." I tried to stand up, but suddenly felt a little light headed.

"Alright, sounds like a plan. I'm sorry for worrying you. I'll be fine; I just need to regain my sense of balance." Starting to feel better, I stumbled over to my shoes to slip into them. "Hey, Seryn. Is there anything else I missed that Rye made last night?" I inquired as I was putting on my shoes.

"No, that's all Rye made." Seryn said. "Are you okay Skyler. You look a little tipsy."

I was feeling dizzy again and was trying to figure out why.

"That's it!" I exclaimed suddenly. "I know why I feel kind of woozy." Seryn just gave me a confused look. "I'm very hungry!"

"But wait; there is no food in Plushtopia for a human. How are we going to find something for you to eat?"

"Maybe Aridos packed me some food in the backpack he gave me." Walked over to where I set the pack down. I opened some of the pockets and searched hopefully. Sadly, I didn't find anything of interest until I saw a note tied to a stone.

"This is a Moon Stone. It is able to amplify moon energy to make it usable by even humans. It isn't fully charged right now and would probably suffice for only a meal or two, but just leave it in the moonlight for a while and it'll charge!

-Aridos-"

I held up the Moon Stone and let its light shine on me. It was just like when Seryn had fused our minds and absorbed moonlight. It was free energy.

"Oh! I see. Aridos packed a way for you to get energy. I still don't think your fit to go on that tour though." She was right. I felt better and was no longer dizzy, but I still felt rather weak.

"I think you're right. Well, let's go find Rye already." I headed for the door and readied my self to push it open, but I noticed that Seryn wasn't following me. "Are you coming Seryn?"

"Yeah, don't wait up. I'll meet you outside." She sounded slightly confused and clearly wanted to be alone for a moment.

"Alright, suit yourself." I pushed the door open. You see, this building was made entirely out of cloth, so there was no need for doorknobs or latches. Every door could just easily be pushed open. I started heading down the stairs to the door to outside the house. As soon as I walked out of the door, I noticed Rye asleep near the door. He had obviously been waiting for Seryn and me for quite awhile. I walked over to him and gave him a little nudge to wake him.

"Huh? Oh. Good morning Skyler." He said with a yawn. He gave me one look and his eyes were suddenly shining. "You wore them!" He was talking about the clothes he made me. "I made those just for you to apologize for the prejudiced way I acted toward you yesterday. It just wasn't right to assume that you stole Seryn from me. Besides, now that I know more about you, I know that even if you and Seryn were to fall for each other," _(Was that a gleam in his eye? Does he know something I don't?)_ "You two would make a very good couple. She really wouldn't be able to find a better catch than you, Skyler." I blushed at what he was saying.

Seryn and I didn't love each other. Plus, it was obvious she was meant for the green flammie on my shirt. "Speaking of Seryn, where is she? She insisted on sleeping in your room to 'make sure you noticed the clothes.' Oh, never mind, here she comes now. Up there, out the window." I looked up and saw that Seryn was now flying down to greet us. She was excited about something.

"Good morning Rye. Sorry I'm late. Skyler is a little weak from not having food for a while, so can we just take him to the training spot we found and reschedule the full tour?" Seryn got right to the point with Rye. I suppose it was something that needed to be said so I didn't really think of it much.

"Sure I guess. If that's okay with you, Skyler." I nodded. _(Seryn and I had already agreed on this.)_ "Then follow me." We started walking along a path and soon we reached a forest of trees made entirely of cloth. "Just a little bit into theses woods and we'll be there." Rye assured me as he grabbed some of the cloth leaves and started munching on them.

We walked straight for about two minutes until we came into a clearing with a small pond. "Here we are." Rye said. "I thought this would be perfect because the water could be frozen for Ice spells. I also called in a favor with Aridos and got him to make the ground here just like normal ground. So, what do you think?"

"It's perfect." I agreed. "Say, Rye. Can I ask you a few questions about yourself?"

"Sure. Ask away." He clearly didn't mind.

"Thanks." I decided to start with the obvious question. "Not to be offensive or anything, but what _are_ you anyway?

Rye chuckled and answered, "Oh! You mean Seryn never told you? I am a flammie-plushie. You could say that I'm a living breathing stuffed animal. I can turn any cloth directly into energy when I digest it so that's why you saw me snacking on some cloth leaves earlier. That was actually my breakfast for today."

"Oh I get it. And that answered one of my other questions too. On to the final one. How did you make these wonderful clothes for me in one night?"

"Let's just say that being made entirely of cloth and living off cloth has its advantages. But better than explaining the process, how about I just show you? I've been meaning to make you a hat to match those clothes anyway." Rye didn't wait for me to answer or try to say what I might have wanted the hat to look like. He obviously already had something in mind.

He stopped for a moment to visualize the article of clothing he was about to form and, before I knew it, his stomach gurgled a bit, and I watched in awe as a lump started to form in his throat. He then suddenly spit out a stylish blue baseball cap. "Go ahead, try it on!" He encouraged.

Reluctantly, I picked it up. It was warm as if it had just come out of a dryer, not like a being had just spit it up. One look at the color of the hat and I recognized it as the same color as the hair of the green flammie on the picture on my shirt. The hat was also tipped on the bill with the same shade of purple the flammie's eyes were. Why had he used the same color scheme as the flammie? I tried on the hat and, sure enough, it fit perfectly like my pants, shirt, and socks.

Seryn whispered something in Rye's ear, and then he said something very sudden. "Skyler, do you trust me?" Slightly startled at what Rye just said, I was only able to nod. I had complete trust in him. Not only because of my dream, but he had shown me how much he trusted me. I figured it was my turn. "Good. Then believe me when I say that you will greatly enjoy what's about to happen. Please, don't struggle or fight it. Just relax and let what's about to happen, happen. You will come out completely unharmed."

To my surprise, Rye lifted me up so we were looking face to face, and next thing I knew, I was sliding head first past his rubbery tongue and down his throat. What was he doing? He said I wouldn't be harmed, but how couldn't I be? HE WAS EATING ME!

**END OF CHAPTER 4!**

Author's Ending Notes: I challenge any of you to try to make a character in a story fall asleep in a convincing way without getting sleepy yourself. Anyway Chapter 4 re-read and re-edited just for you. Yes you. If you're behind a computer screen reading my story, then this re-edit was done for you.

Look out for:

Chapter 5: Trust


	6. Chapter 5: Trust

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trial

Chapter 5: Trust

Trust. It is truly a wonderful thing isn't it? But, what do you do when someone (or in my case something) you trust ends up trying to eat you?

I found myself sliding past Rye's rubbery tongue. He had asked me if I trusted him, then promptly began to eat me. By the time I had recovered from the shock, I was already helplessly sliding down his throat.

"Rye! What are you doing?" I screamed in terror. "I trusted you! How could you betray me like this?" I expected to feel the searing pain of stomach acid as Rye devoured the last little bit of me, but all I felt was plush.

"Relax Skyler!" Rye tried to calm me. "I wouldn't dream of digesting you. On top of that, I couldn't even if I wanted to."

"Relax? Easy for you to say!" I snapped back. "You're not the one that just got EATEN!"

"Skyler! Calm down! Think about it, I am a being that only devours cloth because I'm MADE from cloth! What use would my body have for a meaty thing like you?"

"'Calm down' he says! I JUST GOT EATEN!"

"Skyler! I know how you feel, but you…"

"Know how I feel? How could you possibly know how I feel?"

"Skyler, please just calm down and listen to Rye." Seryn's calm and gentle voice jumped in. "Trust me, he's not trying to hurt you. Besides, what would struggling accomplish at this point?" Seryn managed to get to me. I felt myself calming down and thinking more logically about the situation. I was already in Rye's hold. There was no getting out of this one unless he let me go.

"Alright." I said with a sigh. "But you ARE going to let me out, right?"

"Of course." Rye started patting his belly. "I just want to give you a good rest. Just relax and let the embrace of sleep take you."

"Fall asleep? Do you expect me to just sleep whenever I want?" (_Well, it is rather comfy in here…) _ "But, it's still early in the day!" (_My eyelids are getting quite heavy…) _"And, there's still much I was going to do today!" (_Actually, I have nothing in particular planned…) _I closed my eyes. "Well, I guess a small nap can't hurt." (_Or perhaps a not-so-small nap…) _I felt myself being lulled to sleep by Rye's steady breathing.

I quickly noticed that the usual chaos of my dreams was absent. Instead, I found myself in complete darkness. One would think that this darkness would be cold and threatening, but this sanctuary harbored only warmth and comfort. On top of that, I felt as if all of my burdens from the past months had been completely lifted from my shoulders. All my fears had melted away to nothing. All my obligations had been forgotten. Everything about this place did nothing but comfort me. This was truly the ultimate stress reliever. It was as if nothing could harm me. I felt untouchable, yet my closest loved ones were there too, comforting me all the more. Nothing could ever compare to the repose I experienced there.

It seemed to be less than five minutes in this enlightened plane of existence, when I started to feel the call of the real world beckoning me back to consciousness. I tried to hang on to the realm, but to no avail.

I slowly opened my eyes to find that I was no longer asleep in Rye's gut, but tightly curled in the bed Rye had set up for me the night before. Just by the little observations I was able to make in an instant, I was able to deduce that it was late in the evening. I had been sleeping for quite some time.

I gently pushed the blankets off of myself and, as I was stretching my stiff limbs, glanced over to the bed that Seryn had made for herself. She was not there.

I shrugged and walked to the window to stare at the night sky. The moon seemed to smile down on the world, and the stars seemed to greet me with gleeful twinkling. It didn't take long for me to decide to gaze at the sky from outside. _(Maybe I'll even see Seryn.)_ I thought to myself.

I quietly stepped out of my room and started to head for the entrance of the plush building.

"Oh hello Skyler. I didn't expect you to be awake so soon." I turned to see Rye standing behind me. "Did you enjoy your little trip into the Repose Realm?" He asked politely.

"Yes, it was very relaxing, but how did you know that falling asleep in your stomach would send me there?" I replied.

Rye chuckled. "I really wasn't joking when I said that I knew how you felt. You're not the only one who has been unexpectedly swallowed by a plushie-flammie that you trust."

"What? You're joking!" I looked at Rye in disbelief.

"No, I'm totally serious. I bet you can even guess who it was."

I started laughing. I immediately knew who he was talking about. "Seryn? Wow, that's something I didn't expect." We laughed together for a good half-minute.

"So where are you going anyway?" Rye asked me once he caught his breath.

"I just wanted to go for a walk and look at the sky." I responded with a shrug. "What about you? Where were you headed?"

"Honestly, I was just going to bed." Rye replied casually. _(If he was going to bed, why would he be heading outside? He's hiding something. I'd better not ask though. It's probably none of my business.)_

I nodded. "Hey, before you go, have you seen Seryn anywhere?"

Rye, who had started to walk further into the plush corridor, looked back and shook his head. "As far as I knew, she was in your room." He replied as he continued his walk deeper into the building.

I turned and walked outside. It was pleasantly cool. I thought for a moment about what to do, and quickly decided to sit in a tree and gaze at the sky.

It was a short walk to the edge of the forest where I was told to I could practice my magic. I looked at the trees for a branch that was a reasonable distance from the ground, yet still reachable. It didn't take long to find one. I grabbed the branch with both of my hands and hoisted one leg over. I set one of my feet flat on the top of the branch (to avoid a very uncomfortable situation) with my knee bent. I rested my arm on my knee while the other arm hung limply at my side and gazed at the stars. After hours of star gazing, I dropped back down to the ground and decided to head back to my room. I didn't exactly feel tired, but I felt relaxed and I wanted to just go to sleep to pass the time. I laid on the ground and gazed up in the sky until I finally fell asleep.

I dreamed of practicing magic in a vast meadow. I just couldn't seem to get the spell. Suddenly large and malicious dark violet clouds started to cover the sky. There were so many. They even blotted out the sun to a point that it seemed like nighttime.

The sky grumbled and roared, and suddenly a colossal lightning bolt struck the ground. The fire caused by the bolt threatened to engulf the entire meadow and me with it. It grew and grew until it completely surrounded me.

"No!" I yelled. "I have to try to stop this blaze!" I held my staff horizontally in front of my chest and began to cast a spell. I separated my aura into three different pools and turned it blue.

"Aqua Edge!" I yelled. The pools of aura suddenly turned to water and shot in different directions. All three extinguished a good portion of the blaze, but it was still too strong. It quickly recovered and crept ever closer.

I cast Aqua Edge numerous times, but each was less effective than the last. Soon the flame was a mere foot from me. Just as the flames were about to reach me, a green light shot from the ground that I was standing on and slammed into the clouds. They quickly lost their color and became normal rain clouds. It started to rain.

The rain from the clouds extinguished the fire before it could reach me, but I was saddened by the sight of the once beautiful meadow. Everything was reduced to ash. I knelt down and tears flowed from my eyes. I had come so close to death.

The clouds began to split and revealed the moon. The moon shined bleakly on the barren wasteland and seemed to be sad.

A small drop of liquid fell from the moon and hit the ground in front of me. The scorched grass around me started to regain its life and color. Trees erupted from the earth and shot up toward the sky. Flowers poked up from the ground and bloomed. In a matter of minutes, I was in a clearing of a vast forest. The moon had given this simple meadow a forest of life.

Skyler?" A voice called. "Skyler! Wake up!" _(It sounds like … Seryn!) _"C'mon! Wake up!" _(She sounds worried. I wonder why.)_

I opened my eyes and saw Seryn calmly sitting next to me with her paw on my chest like she was shaking me a bit. "Good morning, you little narcoleptic." She withdrew her paw and tucked it under her chin similar to what a cat would do.

I looked at the sky and noticed the sun low in the eastern sky. It was still early morning. I took a deep breath of the cool and refreshing morning air. I turned to Seryn with a subtle smile on my face. "When did you find me here?"

"Around midnight. I was on my back to our room after a flight in the moonlight and just happen to see you napping down here, so I decided to wait for you to wake up and offer you a ride home. I guess I dozed off myself. Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be in your bed."

"I came out side to gaze at the stars while I waited for you to get back. Actually at first I was sitting in that branch," I made a quick gesture to the branch above me. "but I started to feel sleepy, so I came down and lay on the ground so I wouldn't fall off the branch if I did fall asleep."

Seryn stood up, stretched, yawned, and extended a paw to me. I grabbed it and hoisted myself on my feet. "Thanks. Let's go home. I'm sure Rye is wondering where we are."

Seryn and I walked back to the cottage. Just as we were about to go inside and look for Rye, he came out the door and greeted us. "Glad to see that you're still alive." He looked at me and chuckled. "I've got some errands to run. I'll be back soon." He said as he started walking toward the forest. _(What sort of errands could he possibly have to run?)_

Seryn yawned. "I suppose you're not very tired. I think I'm gonna take a nap."

"Oh, alright." I responded. "I'm going to go practice some spells then."

Seryn nodded and walked into the house. I turned and started to walk back toward the forest. _(I wonder if I'll see Rye. He's been so secretive about what he's doing lately. I wonder why.)_

"You forgot your backpack!" Seryn called to me and tossed it out the window. It landed on the ground with a solid thud.

"Thank you!" I called back to her. I had kept the spell book in there. Without it, I had no way of learning spells.

On the way to the forest, I did indeed see Rye. He was now walking parallel to the edge of the forest, and looking around as if he was searching for something. I briefly considered following him and finding out what he was up to, but I decided that I really did need to learn a new spell or two today.

I entered into the clearing in the forest that I was supposed to practice my magic in. I set my backpack on the ground and started to flip through the pages. _(Fire seems like a good place to start.)_ I thought to myself. _(Let's see, level 2 fire spells…)_ I finally reached the page and stopped there.

The book read:

Level 2 Fire spell: Eruption

Eruption is a powerful fire based spell in which you make

magma explode from the earth.

How to perform:

Focus red aura just below the earth's surface and force it

to bubble up from the surface.

"So, I'm going to need to have slight control over earth too." I mumbled to myself. I stood up and waved my hand to make my staff appear. I raised my staff horizontally in front of my chest and began to concentrate on a patch of ground about 5 feet in front of me.

"Eruption!" I yelled as I swung my staff upwards. I felt a slight amount of heat, but nothing more seemed to happen. I tried again.

"Eruption!" More heat. _(Once more now.)_

"Eruption!" This time the ground started to bubble a bit, but there was no eruption.

"Drat!" I yelled in frustration. I took a deep breath to control my temper and tried once again.

"Eruption!" I yelled again. The ground bubbled again, but there was no fire.

"Good try, but this time, focus on the fire and not the earth." A familiar voice echoed in my head. I followed the directions.

"Eruption!" I yelled once again. This time the ground exploded and erupted three times. It was small, but at least I could perform the spell. _(Wait, I know I've heard that voice somewhere before.)_

I practiced Eruption again and again, and it got bigger and bigger. It really wasn't long until I had mastered my first level 2 spell!

"Eruption!" I cast it one last time to celebrate. Now the pool of lava that erupted was over ten feet big.

"Wow! You're getting good at that!" I jumped and spun around. Seryn was sitting a few yards behind me. She rose and chuckled as she started to walk toward me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." I felt hot with embarrassment.

"D-don't sneak up on me like that!" I stuttered. Seryn couldn't help but notice how embarrassed I was and chuckled again. "How long have you been there?"

"Oh five minutes or so. You really should be noticing these things." She teased me for a moment. "You really have gotten really good at casting spells though."

"Thanks!" I said, still blushing from letting her sneak up on me. "Let's head back home. I want to see Rye about that tour."

"Alright!" Seryn nearly jumped with joy. She and I started to walk back to the plush cottage that we now called home. There was only one thing on my mind. _(Who was that who helped me? I know I've heard his voice before…)_

**END OF CHAPTER 5!**

Author's Ending Notes: Oh. Wow. This chapter is shorter than I remember. Not much was changed here. I could tell that this is where I was actually getting much better at writing. The only big change that I really made was I took out the whole bit about Skyler falling out of the tree and just made him go to the ground before actually falling asleep. It just makes more sense this way.

Look out for:

Chapter 6: The Legend


	7. Chapter 6: The Grave

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trials

Chapter 6: The Grave

I had somehow managed to master a second level fire spell a few days ago. True, I had a little help, but that was the first time I tried to cast the spell. I suspected that it was the "White Entity" that visited me in my dreams not too long ago. Not to seem arrogant, but maybe I have a natural gift for casting magic. There were, however, a few questions that I would have for this entity if I were to speak with him again. These questions were constantly on my mind throughout Rye's tour of Plushtopia just yesterday, but now I was feeling refreshed and ready for a new day.

I hopped out of bed and quietly walked to the large window in my room. The sun was just beginning to rise. I witnessed it peek up over the horizon and quickly move up into the sky.

The sky itself greeted the sun by turning from its nightly shade of navy blue to neon pink, then to bright orange and continuing around the color wheel until it was in its usual shade of sapphire blue, and the bright yellow sun was high in the morning sky. It was truly a spectacular sight, and one that I would not object to witnessing every day.

"Good morning, Skyler!" Seryn said from somewhere behind me. Smiling, I turned around and saw Seryn approaching me. She looked rather sleepy and stifled a yawn as she greeted me.

"Good morning, Seryn!" I greeted gleefully. "Beautiful morning isn't it?"

"Indeed it is. You seem very chipper today. What's got you in such a good mood?"

"I'm just happy because it's a new day. I managed to master a more advanced spell not too long ago, and I'm anxious to get out there and work some more! Unless, of course, you and Rye have something else planned for me." I responded in a joyful tone.

"No, I don't suppose we do." Seryn seemed rather down, but I didn't notice right away. "Can I ask you a question?" She asked suddenly.

"Of course! I'm an open book. What do you want to know?" She should know by now that I'll answer any question that she has for me.

"Yesterday when Rye and I were giving you that tour of Plushtopia, you seemed somewhat down. Now you're so happy. Did something happen last night that I'm not aware of?" By the tone of her voice, it seemed like Seryn was nervous about what the answer would be.

"No, nothing happened last night aside from a good night's sleep! Yesterday, I was just pricking by brain about the strange voice that helped me learn Eruption. He just sounded so familiar. It sounded so similar to the voice of a White Entity that gave me some advice in a dream not too long ago." When I explained, Seryn tried to hide her sigh of relief, but I noticed it as I felt the feeling waft from her.

"I see. Does this 'White Entity' have a name? Maybe I've heard of him." Seryn now sounded cool and content. It also seemed like she was honestly interested.

"I'm not sure." I responded. "I've been planning to ask him when he visits me again, but so far, I haven't seen hide or tail of him. Come to think of it, even last time he visited, he was surrounded by very dense white fog. I don't even know what he looks like."

"Oh well, there's no sense in worrying about it now." Seryn motioned to the door of the room, and gave me a small nudge on the shoulder. "Why don't you just head outside, and I'll be there in a moment. We can talk more then."

"Well, okay." I replied and stepped outside the door. I made my way out of the dark hallway, and waited just outside for Seryn. Next thing I knew, she jumped out of the window, flapped he wings a bit, and landed softly beside me. I was impressed that she was so agile despite her size.

"So, what should we do today?" She asked gleefully.

"Like I said, I want to practice more of my spells today." I started to walk toward the clearing in the forest where I was to practice my magic. I had a hunch that Seryn had other things she wanted to do, but I didn't think to stop and ask what she wanted to do.

We were walking for a while, and Seryn hadn't said anything. "I don't mind if you want to watch or help." She didn't answer. I was trying to cheer her up. I couldn't feel any emotions emanating from her. Was she suppressing her emotions to not upset me? "C'mon Seryn, don't be so down. Cheer up!" Still with no answer, I looked over my shoulder and saw much to my own embarrassment that Seryn was nowhere to be seen. "Well, fine." I muttered to my self in a disappointed tone. I continued to walk for the clearing in the forest where would practice my magic.

When I got there, I decided to test myself and see if it still could still cast eruption with as much ease as I could before. I summoned my staff with a quick wave of my hand and held it in casting position. I focused on a small patch of ground ahead of me and imagined magma bursting multiple times from that point. I let my aura grow in power right there until it was ready.

"Eruption!" I yelled as I swung my staff upwards. Success! The ground blew up with fire and earth three times. It was just as easy as before. I sat down next to the usual tree and pulled my spell book out of the backpack I left laying against it. I started to aimlessly page through it. "What should I learn next?" I pondered to myself quietly.

I saw a page that was labeled "Flame Lance" at the top. (_Sounds_ _easy enough._) I thought to myself. After studying the page for a few minutes to get the general idea of how to cast the spell, I stood up and resumed my casting position.

I concentrated my aura high in the air. Using my growing control over my aura, I tried to mold it into the shape of a giant spear. It wasn't long before the task proved more difficult that I had predicted it would be. Just as I was able to get my aura to assume the shape that I was trying to achieve, my concentration broke and the spell fizzled.

I concentrated again, and this time achieved the spear-like shape very quickly. I used the rest of the time I had to cast the spell to condense my aura in the spear and raise the power and its size. Due to this being only my second attempt at the spell, I wasn't able to get very much aura condensed. When I felt that the time was just right, I held my staff up and quickly swung it down.

"Flame La…"

"Skyler!" Seryn's sudden desperate plea interrupted me, and the built up aura dissipated. I whipped around to see Seryn franticly charging at me with a fearfully anxious look. "Skyler! Rye's gone missing! When you wanted to practice your spells, I decided you'd rather do that alone. I tried to find Rye and see if he'd want to do anything with me, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find him." If she was trying to hide her worry, she wasn't doing a very good job. I could feel it coming off her in waves. Her obvious anxiousness was only reinforced by the fact that she had explained the whole situation in one breath without giving me time enough to reply.

"Seryn, take a deep breath and calm down." I said calmly. She silently nodded and let out a sigh. The worry from her was slowing down a bit. "Rye's been here for a long time. I'm sure he knows where he's going. Besides, he looks like someone who knows how to take care of himself, and panicking won't do anything for us."

Seryn took another deep breath, but she wasn't any less worried, just much calmer. "Yes. You're right. I'm overreacting, but I'm still worried! What if he's been hurt or something? Can't you help me find him?"

"Sure. When was the last time you saw him?" I asked coolly.

"Last night. Before I went to bed." She replied. Relief flowed from her when I started to take over the search.

"I saw him this morning at the house. That seems as good a place to start as any." I started to walk toward the deceivingly small cottage that I had begun to call home. Seryn hesitated for a moment, but quickly caught up with me before I even left the clearing.

I stepped into the long, dark hallway where I had seen Rye that morning. Seryn hesitantly followed me. I tried to remember where Rye was going after I saw him.

"Where to now?" Seryn asked. For some reason, she seemed even more worried now than she did before, but she kept her calm demeanor. One would guess this ruse was to avoid getting scolded for overreacting again.

"I think I saw Rye walking farther down this hallway. Maybe he's still back there." I replied. I started to walk deeper into the corridor. At first, Seryn was right beside me, but it didn't take long for her to start to linger behind. I looked back to see what was keeping her. She was moving toward me very slowly. Her paws were against the wall as if she needed it just to stand; feelings of fear shone in her eyes and flowed from her like an infinite spring.

"What's wrong?" I asked. Seryn just shook her head and continued to take her slow and overly cautious steps toward me. I thought for a moment why she would be moving so slowly. (_She's definitely afraid of something, but what?_) I calmly walked closer to her until I was right next to her. I hoped that I could calm her down a bit.

"Why don't you wait outside, or in our room? I'll be able to look down here alone. Maybe you can even look outside for Rye a little more." I suggested softly. I was being very careful not to directly confront her about her fear, but Seryn shook her head defiantly.

"N-no, I'm okay." Seryn tried in vain to keep her voice steady.

"You most certainly are not!" I said somewhat more firmly, but still keeping the gentle tone. "Are you forgetting about flammies being able to share their emotions? I felt how afraid you are when I first looked back."

"O-Okay." Seryn still seemed hesitant to give in, but a sense of relief flooded her mind. "Just promise me you'll come back."

"I promise." Seryn, feeling satisfied, started running for the door. She couldn't wait to get away from something, but what? (_Why was she so scared? What is there to fear in here?_) I kept pondering the answers as I walked down the hallway.

It was so dark. Unnaturally dark even for an enclosed area, and step after step, the darkness only enveloped me more. (_What could Rye possibly be keeping down this enormous hallway?_) With nothing else to do but to trudge onward, I began asking myself questions that I didn't know the answers to. (_Why is it so dark? Is Rye trying to deter people from finding whatever is at the end of this corridor? For that matter, why haven't I tried to explore back here until now?_) I thought for a moment about that last one. (_Because I haven't had time. And every time I would have been able to, Rye was blocking my way ready and willing to give me something else to do._) I took a few more steps. By this time, I was in total darkness. I couldn't even see my bright white shirt, but I was too deep in thought to really notice. (_No. Now that I think about it, I have never even thought about going down here. That and I'm always asking Rye various questions. Usually if he knows Seryn's whereabouts._) Just walking. Nowhere to go but straight; nothing to do but think. (_What am I doing here anyway? I find a strange book on the sidewalk, and next thing I know, I'm suddenly off on some crazy adventure. Learning magic, visiting other worlds, fighting 'ultimate evils,' and who knows what else._) I finally realized how the darkness totally enveloped me. I turned my aura white and forced a small chunk of it into my staff to create a makeshift torch, but the sudden intense light hurt my eyes and I quickly withdrew the aura. I somewhat preferred the dark anyway. I recalled my staff and continued to ponder. (_I wonder how Mom and Dad feel. It's only been about three months since I left. Do they even know that I'm gone?_) I suddenly felt a pang of home-sickness. It was stronger than it ever had been since I had left home for college in Utah. I had actually just finished my first year in college when I found the spell book. I didn't actually have any plans to go back just yet. I had a strong feeling that something important had to happen first. My job at Target was just filler before I acquired a job in game development. (_What if I never see them again? I never even said good-bye._) I lamented not having the chance to talk to my parents before Mana attacked. I gasped at the thought of Mana. (_What if Mana attacks them? They wouldn't stand a chance!_) I felt myself panicking slightly, but I was able to quell my fear with logic. (_No. How could he even know? I don't think that Seryn even knows who my parents are. Maybe I can get her to meet them after this all blows over. Then again, I don't think they'd be particularly happy to find out that I had left for another world to hang out with a dragon. Hell, they probably wouldn't even believe me unless I showed Seryn to them._)

I continued to be so deep in thought that I didn't even notice the hallway begin to regain its light. (_I wonder if Seryn would even want to meet Mom and Dad. I mean, it's not like I can meet her parents._) I finally noticed the corridor's new light only when I saw the end of the hall and the lone door that was there. (_I wonder how much time has actually passed._) I wondered to my self.

I reached the door only a few minutes after seeing it. It was a normal sized plush door without a handle, but you knew it was a door because it had an obvious seam around it. I put both my hands on the door and pushed it. It didn't open easily, but neither did any of the doors in Plushtopia, so I can't say I was surprised. I finally heard the velcro come undone and the door opened.

Soft moonlight flooded the hallway. I cautiously stepped through the doorway and looked around. A full moon was quietly gazing down on the small forest that I had entered through the door. Everything, the moon, the flora, even the very ground felt so … real. This was either made of an unnaturally realistic cloth, or this was a very special place in Plushtopia, or perhaps I was no longer in Plushtopia at all.

I began to search the peaceful forest for Rye. After all, that is what I was her to do. I put my hand on a tree as I walked by expecting to feel a cloth-like substance filled with fluff, but instead I felt a solid tree. Surprised, I took a closer look. It was real bark, real leaves, and a genuinely real tree. I crouched down and felt the grass and the earth. Yes! It was all real! Unlike Plushtopia, I could not find a single piece of cloth save the clothes I was wearing.

Suddenly, I heard a slight rustling further into the forest. Because my interest was so piqued by this small patch of real world in the middle of Plushtopia, I decided to investigate. It wasn't very far from where I was standing. In fact, I didn't think that this small forest was even that big to begin with.

The trees began to thin out until they abruptly stopped. There was a small clearing with a medium sized rock in the center, and a stream of moonlight shining directly on it making it seem to glow. I looked round the rock to try to find the source of the rustling I heard earlier. I was surprised to hear deep breathing as if someone, or something, was sleeping near by.

I located the source of the slight snoring and explored what was causing it. Rye was sound asleep next to the stone. I walked toward him and tried to decide what to do. I was very reluctant to just wake him up, after all, I didn't want to cause him any trouble, nor did I want to annoy him.

After mulling what to do, I decided to just wake him up. Besides Seryn would be worried about us. But … maybe I just let him sleep for a few more minutes. Maybe he'll wake up on his own. I sat down waited. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind. I meditated there for a few minutes. Just thinking about my situation (as if I didn't have enough time to do that on the way here) and whether I'd introduce Seryn to my parents or not.

I decided that I'd have to tell them sooner or later, and resolved to confront them as soon as I was done in Plushtopia. I opened my eyes and glanced over at Rye. He was still sleeping peacefully. I stood up only to kneel next to him and poke him.

"Hey, Rye. Wake up!" I tried to wake him gently and not agitate him too much. He lifted his head slightly and looked around slowly and quietly, then he put his head back down and promptly went back to sleep. I poked him again. "Wake up, Rye! Seryn's been looking all over for you." I pestered him to awaken. He lifted his head and looked around again. This time he noticed me and stretched his mouth wide open in a huge yawn.

"Morning Skyler!" He greeted me groggily. He opened his eyes wider and looker around to assess his surroundings. He glanced at the rock and suddenly seemed fully awake. He shifted himself into a sitting position facing me and looked at me quizzically. "What are you doing here?" He inquired thoughtfully.

"I was looking for you." I responded gently. "Seryn looked all over Plushtopia and couldn't find you, so she asked me to help her look. This was the only place she didn't look, so here I am. By the way, where exactly is here anyway?"

Rye sighed and seemed rather embarrassed. "You see, when Seryn disappeared all those years ago," he began to explain, "I had assumed her to be dead. Unfortunately, my worst case scenario assumption was proven correct when I found her lifeless body somewhere in the forest."

"But if you knew she had died, why did you act like you did when we first got here? Why did you act like Seryn ran away from you for some reason?"

Rye sighed again. This was obviously a relatively tender subject. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to act that way. I guess I just missed her and wished for her back so badly that when I saw her, I convinced myself that she had run away and never died.

"Anyway, after I found Seryn's body, I wanted to make a monument for her so I could always remember her. I asked Aridos for help because I had nobody else to turn to. He agreed without much argument and built this little haven in Plushtopia. He really is a brilliant wizard. He created this entire forest and made sure it was not only a constant full moon, but also that it was constantly night. He even went so far as to make the moonlight always shine on this rock." Rye explained forlornly.

I stood up and took a few steps forward and rested my hand on the rock. It was very smooth, and seemed to have a warm energy to it. "So this is stone is … Seryn's grave?" Rye nodded slowly. "But if you know that she's alive, why do you still visit?"

"While it's true that Seryn is alive and well today, _my _Seryn died a long time ago. Now she's free to start a new life. The life that Aridos gave her. The life that _you _gave her." Rye seemed to still be grieving for Seryn's earlier death, but he also seemed happy with Seryn being with me now.

"I understand, and I'm happy that you accept me, but I'm happier to have you as a friend." It was quite a sentimental moment. Rye nodded in response and began to cheer up quickly.

"You said that Seryn was looking for me right?" He asked without expecting a response. He stood up and started walking to the door back to Plushtopia, then beckoned me to follow. "No doubt she's worried about you too by now, but please don't tell her about this place. It'd probably only trouble her more, and she really doesn't need that."

I nodded understandingly. "Alright, my lips are sealed." I said with a smile as I rushed to catch up with Rye. It wasn't long before we reached the portal between this little grove and Plushtopia. With a seemingly effortless nudge, he opened the door and held it for me to walk inside. He followed quickly and started leading the way down the long hallway.

"I don't suppose there are any shortcuts." I asked hopefully, but Rye just chuckled.

"No, there aren't." He responded. "If there were, Seryn might accidentally find her own grave, and for some reason, I have a bad feeling about that happening."

We were walking and the darkness began to engulf us as I had come to expect. "But what's stopping her from just walking down this hallway normally? What was she so afraid of when we were walking down here?"

"You mean you don't know?" He seemed surprised. I just gave him a confused look. "Seryn's afraid of the dark." He explained calmly. "She doesn't like to be anywhere where the natural light from the sky can't reach her."

"Now that I think about it, that makes sense. She never goes into the hallway from our room. Maybe she's spent so much time in the void between lives that she's developed a natural fear." I tried to rationalize her fear. "I know I would be. I saw her floating there before I met her, and believe me, it did not look like fun."

I took a moment to recall when I first met Seryn. She came in a dream. She was just floating in the void, and a sense of helplessness emanated from her as she begged me to take her as my familiar. Actually it wasn't even that long ago. In reality, it had only been about 3 months. Our friendship had progressed so far since then. Actually so had my magic.

It was a rather quiet and uneventful trip back down the corridor. Rye didn't have much to say, and I continued to think about various happenings in that day. Namely how Rye was acting around the time that he said that I gave Seryn her current life. It was like he knew something that I just wasn't getting. The light in began to return to the artificial walls and I noticed that the door was visible.

Rye looked content. He wasn't particularly happy that I roused him from his nap, but he wasn't exactly angry about it. It was like he acknowledged that he had to return and ease Seryn's worry. He walked forward and pushed open the door.

Seryn was lying on the ground in an apparently very uncomfortable sleep. "She must have worried herself to sleep." I whispered to Rye. "Should we wake her up?"

"Yeah, I think we should." He responded. "She'll be happy to know we are both perfectly safe. Even though there never was any real danger, that is."

I cautiously stepped forward and prodded Seryn's semi-exposed belly. "Hey, Seryn. I'm back, and I brought Rye with me." I coaxed her out of her slumber gently. Seryn twitched uncomfortably and quickly stood up.

"Huhzawut?" She slurred her words as if she wasn't fully awake yet. She opened her mouth wide in a huge yawn and stretched her tired limbs before looking around and seeing Rye and I standing near her. Before saying anything else, ran at me and tackled me.

It wasn't just surprise that knocked me over; it was a 400 pound beast! She was actually much lighter than I thought she'd be, but it was still very uncomfortable with her lying directly on top of me. "Seryn!" I protested, but I was muffled by Seryn's fur and feathers. Rye was laughing so hard that he was almost on the ground with me. "C'mon, get off!" I tried in vain to push her off. She was just so happy to see me.

She got up after her little bit of playfulness and reached a paw to help me up. I grabbed on and hoisted myself back on my feet and hoped she wasn't going to tackle me again anytime soon. "Sorry." Seryn said bashfully. "I didn't mean to crush you. I guess I'm still just used to playing with other flammies." She turned around and looked at Rye. Suddenly she became really embarrassed. "I-I'm sorry Rye! I was …"

"No, it's alright." Rye interrupted between laughs. He took a moment to catch his breath and finally spoke. "It's great to see you two getting along so well."

"Seryn," I attempted to get her attention. She turned and acknowledged me. "You said that you were still used to playing with other flammies, but hasn't it been millennia since you were a flamlet?"

"Well, yes and no." She chuckled a bit at me. "Most of the times I've been reborn, I was actually born as a flamlet. I mean it's not like I just appeared. But I know what you mean, and yes, it has been a millennium or two since I had other friends as a flamlet." I opened my mouth to speak, but she spoke first. "I was referring to before the last time that I died. You see, I was on an island with many other flammies, and we would sometimes wrestle with each other not unlike how you'd see cats wrestle. It was all great fun!"

"Oh, I get it. You are just so used to playing roughly like that, you forgot briefly that I'm actually much smaller than you are." I surmised.

"Yeah." She confirmed my observation with a slight smile. "Maybe I can show you it sometime, I don't think it's been all that long."

I thought for a brief moment about her offer. "I'd like that." I responded thoughtfully. "It really would be nice to meet some of your old friends and learn more about you."

"Well, I think I'll just leave you two to chat." Rye said happily. "Later!" He started to walk off, only to be quickly stopped by Seryn.

"Wait, Rye! There's something I want to show you! It's amazing!" She grabbed Rye's paw and started dragging him away both literally and figuratively.

"Okay, okay I'm coming!" Rye replied with a chuckle. Seryn had been dragging Rye on the ground before she stopped to let him get his bearings.

"Do you want to come too?" She asked politely. She didn't seem very surprised when I shook my head slightly. "Alright. I guess you want to keep practicing your magic. Don't worry. I'll be back before the day is over."

I nodded and waved as Seryn started flying away. Rye looked at me and shrugged. He kinda rolled his eyes and made it seem like Seryn usually got worked up like this over small things. He leisurely spread his wings and flew after Seryn.

(_Wait a minute. Rye can fly?_) I didn't know that his wings were fully functional. I just assumed they were mostly for show to make him look even more like a real flammie. I shrugged and decided to practice magic some more. I casually walked toward the forest. I looked for the position of the sun. It seemed like it was a few hours past noon.

I had practiced endlessly for a good 7 or 8 hours, but I only just managed to get good at Flame Lance. It was still nowhere near mastered though, but I was exhausted. I was barely managing to take the steps to get back home.

Just when I was almost to the door of the deceptively small house, Seryn called to me.

"Skyler!" She was extremely cheerful. Obviously she enjoyed her time with Rye. "I was just about to go on my nightly flight, and I'm glad I ran into you." She shuffled around a bit and acted somewhat sheepish. "Would you like to come with me?"

"Actually, I'm really tired. If it's alright, I'd just like to go to bed." I spoke the truth. I had an extremely full day, and it was only natural that I'd be this tired. Seryn was a little disappointed, and that made me feel a little guilty, but it's not like she was asking me out on a date or something like that.

"Y-Yeah, that's fine." Seryn stifled a sigh, and was clearly disappointed. "Well good night then." She spread her wings and took flight, but though her body went up, there was no mistaking her spirits plummeting.

Still feeling slightly guilty, I slowly trudged into my room, kicked my shoes off, and crawled into bed. It didn't take very long for sleep to overcome my weary body.

I quickly found my self surrounded by a familiar white fog. I was back in the dream world to once again confront the mysterious force that had given me advice nights before, and that had helped me cast Eruption for the first time. I would have loved to have that help with Flame Lance, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

"Welcome back." The Entity greeted me warmly. "Is everything going well with your training?" He asked gently.

"Somewhat." I responded after some thought. "Flame Lance gave me a little trouble today. It would have been nice to have a little of your help with it." I attempted to gather information in a rather sneaky way.

"Just because I helped you with Eruption, that does not make me obligated to help with all your spells." He scolded benignly. "Your path is a long and difficult one that will require you to learn to operate on your own intuition."

"But you admit that it was you that helped me with Eruption." I revealed the motive behind my words. "Perhaps I operate better than you first thought already."

He chuckled lightly. "That you do, young one, but it was not a secret that it was me that helped you." There was a small pause. "That is all I wanted to ask, so if you don't have anything to say, I'll take my leave."

"Wait." I caught him just in time. Besides, I wasn't exactly ready to wake up anyway. "I do have a few questions for you, but I fear that these will be secret."

"Very well. What knowledge do you seek wizard?"

"First off, what are you? I'd like to know if who I'm talking to is for or against my path in life."

"You mean you don't know? And here I thought you could operate on your own intuition already." He teased. "I am a flammie. Not too different, in fact, from your Seryn."

"But why do you usually contact me only in my dreams? That is a feat that most flammies do not possess is it not?"

"Think about it. You're correct that no living flammie has the ability to connect to other's dreams. Now why would I be different?"

I stopped for a moment and thought about his words. "You specifically said 'living.' You're not alive are you?"

"Very perceptive. You are correct. I do not reside in the living world. As to why I contact you, well, let's just say that I need your help."

Well that was annoyingly vague. "My help with what? You already obviously know much more than me about magic. What could you possibly need my help for?"

"I need your help to protect your world."

More vagueness. "Protect my world? So, you need my help to defeat Mana?"

"No. Mana is nothing more than an innocent victim sent to slow or even stop you. The evil that you are destined to destroy has yet to fully awaken." Then it was revealed that my true enemy was not Mana, but someone stronger than even him.

"So, you're going to train me to help you destroy this greater evil then?" I continue my interrogation.

"Not quite. I am but a simple messenger to ensure you know that your trials do not end with Mana."

"So then I'm just your lackey? I'm just here to do all the dirty work you tell me to?" I was beginning to get frustrated with all his vague answers.

"No. There are three others whose destinies intertwine with yours. They will help you in even your most dire need."

"But you're not going to help?"

"I never said that."

"Then if you're not going to train me, your going to fight with me right? But how can you do that when you're not even alive yourself?"

"It is not on my shoulders to tell you that." He paused only briefly enough to catch his breath. "Rest easy child. I assure you that everything will become clear in its own time." The mist began to fade away into nothing.

"Wait!" I yelled. "I still have a few more questions." The fading stopped and there was an awkwardly silently pause. Almost as if he was deciding weather to stay or not.

"Very well," he finally spoke, "What else do you want to know?"

"Who are you?" Immediately after asking the final question, the mist swirled and a figure began to emerge. It was a flammie looking at me through gentle eyes.

**END OF CHAPTER 6!**

Author's Ending Notes: Very few and minor changes to this one. Still worth the re-read if not to simply refresh what has been happening in the story.

Look out for:

Chapter 7: The Admittance


	8. Chapter 7: The Admittance

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trials

Chapter 7: The Admittance

The mist began to clear and a figure started to become visible. It was a flammie unlike any other I had ever seen or would ever see again. Fur more white than the purest of snow, almost translucent but at the same time totally solid. Atop his head neatly lay thick hair that seemed to be spun from pure gold. Unlike most flammies, neither his ears nor his wings faded to a color unlike the color of his fur. His claws nearly matched his fur, the only difference being that they were a bit greyer. His pads were so silver they seemed to shine brighter than the very stars themselves. Lastly his eyes were perfectly round with irises like pure sapphire. They shone with confidence and power and benevolence that belittled even the hatred and evil that glared in Mana's eyes.

"I am the White Flammie." He spoke in a gentle tone as if he were speaking to his long lost son who had finally returned home. I was puzzled about who or why these flammies were special, but as if he was reading my mind, the White Flammie quenched my confusion. "I am the guardian of flammies and humans alike, and though I was slain long ago, a terrible turn of events has brought me back to provide advice and protection to this world once again."

"Does this 'White Flammie' have a name?" My question seemed to force him to recall something long forgotten.

"My name was Sirius." He finally reached the memory he was looking for. "I must apologize, my memory has been fading ever since it's started happening." This flammie, whose power was clearly far beyond my own then dipped, his head to me in a bow of respect and turned away. "Now that you've gotten your information, I must take my leave. Farwell and good luck my friend." He started moving away, but stopped. "Oh, and make sure you don't neglect Seryn. She needs you as much as you need her." He walked slowly away and began to disappear along with the rest of my surroundings.

"Good-bye." I said gloomily. His final words echoed in my mind as I woke up. 'Don't neglect Seryn.'

I groggily opened my eyes and scanned the room for Seryn, but she had already left. Any hint of surprise was expelled when I glanced outside and saw that it was after noon. I stifled a small sigh and started slowly meandering to the forest.

I wasn't exactly in a hurry and I was hoping to find Seryn along the way, so I took my time walking to the forest. I figured that if I did run into Seryn along the way, I could try and do something with her, but if I didn't, she would probably know to look for me in the forest. I took a good hour to reach the clearing.

Seryn was snoozing soundly near the usual tree. Curious, I headed over to her to wake her up, but her eyes opened ever so slightly before I reached her. With a small yawn, she got up onto her paws and greeted me cheerfully.

"Hi Skyler! Where have you been all day?"

"Well, I've been sleeping for most of the day. I really wasn't kidding last night when I told you how tired I was." I responded with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, but I didn't expect you to be so exhausted to spend over half the day asleep. I honestly thought you'd be practicing out here, and when I saw that you weren't, I figured you come out here eventually. I guess I fell asleep while I was waiting for you."

"You call me narcoleptic, but every time you or Rye ended up waiting for me you manage to fall asleep." I teased. "Anyway, sorry to make you wait so long. Honestly I half expected you to off doing something with Rye."

"Well, I actually had a dream last night that made me somewhat guilty that I wasn't making it a priority to get you ready to fight Mana. After all, there's more fun to be had once he's finally defeated."

"Yeah…" I looked down feeling a bit nervous, but Seryn didn't seem to notice. (_If I told her about Mana, she might freak out a bit. I really can't risk her starting to be unwilling to help me, or worse._)

"Anyway," Seryn continued. "I decided to help you train yourself and become ready to finally beat Mana. I hope you don't mind. Besides, I really just want to spend the day with you."

"In that case, why don't we spend the day doing something you want to do? I'm sure you can think of something other than just training all day." I wanted to start practicing alone just in case I somehow let the secret about Mana slip while concentrating.

"I thought you liked training."

"I do. It's just that…"

"Besides, it's extremely important that you get conditioned to beat Mana. There will be plenty of time for fun and games later." Seryn was putting up a solid argument. "If you aren't ready when you fight him, he won't hesitate to kill you, and I don't want that to happen."

"I know. I know. But I've been practicing my magic practically constantly since we got here. I just want a small break." I tried to wriggle my way out of the situation with an admittedly crappy excuse.

"Skyler, you're lying." The excuse didn't work. "We spent almost three months training non stop before even coming to Plushtopia, and you enjoyed every minute of it without asking for any kind of break. We've barely be here for a single month. Why is this something so important for you to lie to me?" Feelings of disappointment and hurt were flowing from Seryn.

"Seryn…" Now I was feeling more than just a little guilty. "It's not like that. I just don't want this whole wizard thing to make me start to neglect you and your needs." Though I still wanted to be able to practice alone to keep the secret about Mana, there was some truth in my words.

"But you need to … wait, did you just say that you didn't want to neglect me?"

"Well, yeah. I care about you too much to put your emotional health at risk for something this silly. Is there something wrong with that?"

"No. It just is a bit of a coincidence. In that dream I mentioned a little earlier, we spent weeks just doing our own things and growing farther and farther apart until we were barely friends any more. You even went off to fight Mana by your self. I just wanted to make sure not to neglect you to prevent that from happening."

"It's not your fault, Seryn. I'm the one that kept blowing you off just to practice my stupid magic." I tried to take the blame.

"I realized that if I really wanted to spend time with you, I should be content with doing something that you enjoy. Like yesterday, I could have gone with you to the forest and helped you. Not to mention that you really need to practice. Mana's not exactly going to go easy on you. Or when we were looking for Rye, I could have gathered the courage to go with you. I just gave up too early and easily."

"Look, Rye told me about your fear of the dark. It isn't really surprising when I remember what it was like when I saw you in the void. With how much time you've spent in there, it's no wonder why you would develop such a fear."

Seryn began to send out an embarrassed green feeling. "You must think it's weird for someone like me to have such a simple fear."

I started stroking the fur on her arm to try and comfort her. "Not at all." I said soothingly. "As I said, it'd be a natural reaction for anyone who has spent as much time in complete and hopeless darkness as you have. Besides, everyone has a fear."

The embarrassed green started to fade into a happy yellow. We looked at each other silently, and our eyes locked for a short moment. Seryn quickly began to look quizzical and her mind became clouded by a maroon feeling of fear and doubt. I was about to ask her what was wrong, but she beat me to it.

"Why are you so afraid and doubtful? What's on your mind?" She asked gently.

"Nothing." I tried to sound confident as I realized that the feelings from Seryn were reflecting my own feelings. "What reason could I possibly have for feeling like that?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking. Tell me what's wrong." Seryn persisted.

"I … I was just thinking about what would happen if Mana caught us."

"You're lying again." Seryn accused. "Just tell me. Maybe I can help." She continued to try and get me to talk, but I turned in defiance. "Please. Just tell me." She pleaded.

I shook my head and looked down. "I can't." I sighed.

"Why not?" Seryn protested. "Why do you suddenly have some big secret that I can't know about?" She was beginning to get frustrated.

"I'm sorry but …"

"But what?" Seryn cut me off. "What aren't you telling me? Are you homesick?" I shook my head. "Is there someone you miss?" I shook my head again. "Then what? Trust me, I can help if you just tell me what's wrong."

A sudden burst of anger filled my mind. "No, Seryn! You can't!" I shouted without realizing my anger. "This isn't some little thing that you can help with. You think you can fix everything, but you can't! I can't tell what's wrong because I can't take the chance of hurting you." I was staring straight into Seryn's eyes and saw tears beginning to form. I realized then how angry I became. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to regain control of my emotions. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. It's just that I'm afraid that if I told you, you'd stop wanting to fight Mana with me. I'm afraid that maybe you'd even attack me."

Seryn put her arms around me in a hug. "Skyler, there's nothing you could ever say or do that would make me feel that way, so please tell me."

I returned the hug and sighed. "I can't. I don't think it's something you'd want to hear, and I can't risk hurting you."

Seryn let go of me and looked me in the eye. "It's about Mana isn't it?" I looked down guiltily and refused to say anything more. "So it is then." She sighed. "Skyler, I've fought against Mana enough to know how evil he is. He may be my brother, but I've already realized that he must be stopped for good. I've already moved on."

"You're not going to let up until I tell you, are you?" I sighed as Seryn shook her head. "That's what I thought. Fine, but I still don't think you'll be too thrilled." I sighed again before looking Seryn straight in the eyes to express my sincerity. "Mana isn't as evil as you say."

A strong sense of confusion flowed from Seryn. "I've fought Mana many times. If he had any good left in him, I think I would have noticed." She argued.

I shook my head. "No. You wouldn't have. It may be difficult for you to believe, but Mana is totally innocent."

"Are you insane or something? If Mana is innocent, then who is to blame for all the terrible things Mana has done not only to me, but to practically everyone he's come in contact with?"

"The Black Flammie." Seryn's eyes went wide as I mentioned my true adversary.

"How do you know about the Black Flammie?" Seryn gasped.

"Sirius told me. The White Flammie. He's the one who's been visiting me in my dreams and helping me through my studies. He didn't tell me why or how, but the Black Flammie has taken control of Mana."

"So, all this time, we've been fighting because the old legend of the White and Black Flammies. Funny. I always assumed that I was the White Flammie and Mana was the Black Flammie. I mean, every time we were reborn, our lives followed the legend almost exactly."

"I don't actually know the whole legend. Maybe you can tell me it sometime." I tried to change the subject, but to no avail.

"Maybe some day, but now tell me. How is this all bad news? If there's still good left in Mana, couldn't we reach out to that and make it triumph over the Black Flammie's influence?" Seryn sounded hopeful.

I shook my head. "Not likely." I stated. "He's been under the Black Flammie's influence even throughout multiple lives. I doubt that we'd be able to end this nonsense non-violently." There was a bit of an awkward pause. "As much as I'd like to avoid it, I think the best and only thing we can to is to end Mana's life to finally free him."

"I agree." Seryn sighed. "Especially if he's aware of what he's doing, but powerless to stop himself. If he's really innocent as you say, then committing those horrible acts against his own will must be a pain worse than death. I hate to admit it, but unless we can find a way to somehow break his curse, we'll have to kill him."

There was another pause. I suddenly didn't feel like training anymore. My mind was just filled with so many emotions. Some of them were my own, but others I'm not so sure about. I felt sorry for Mana, and sad that we'd probably have to kill him. I felt sympathetic toward Seryn, but mostly, I felt as if we urgently needed to talk to Sirius again. Maybe he'd have the answers I was looking for.

"At any rate," Seryn broke the silence. "You're still going to have to train pretty hard to beat Mana. Can I help you train now, or do you still want me to leave?" Seryn's voice was calmly bitter as if she half-expected me to dismiss her. I was relieved to know that we were still friends.

"Why, I would be delighted to train with you." Seryn perked up at my playfulness. "In all honesty, I just want to spend some time with you."

Seryn smiled. "It's nice to be together." Our eyes locked briefly and I suddenly felt hurt and afraid. I was lying on the ground and awaiting a visit from a familiar presence. Just then, I heard faint footsteps. I opened my eyes and saw the figure of a man standing near me. I was overwhelmed by all the positive emotions this man instilled in me. It was as if he was a long lost friend that had finally come back.

Just as quickly as the vision appeared, I dropped back into reality and was once again with Seryn. My head felt like it was spinning and I struggled to keep my balance. "Wh-What just happened?" I asked Seryn before falling on the ground.

"What do you mean?" Seryn sounded just as confused as I was. "Our eyes locked for a brief moment and now you're dizzy enough to fall over. I should be asking you what happened."

I took a moment to explain the sudden vision that I had just had. It seemed that my explanation had resurfaced some of Seryn's more painful memories.

"I'm sorry Skyler. I didn't mean for you to see that." She sighed and waited for the inevitable question to follow.

"See what? What was that all about?" I asked exactly what she expected.

"That was one of my memories. A particularly painful one at that." With this simple explanation Seryn didn't seem particularly sad but not too thrilled either. It was like the memory was painful to recall, but Seryn had already moved on from the sadness.

"So, it was similar to what happened when I asked how you knew Aridos." I surmised. "The vision I just saw was you sharing your memories with me?"

"Yes," Seryn answered. "But back then I did it on purpose. I don't know why you saw the memory this time." It seemed that the memory had reopened some of Seryn's old wounds, so I decided to change the subject.

"Speaking of back then," I began my sly subject change. "Why were you in that box anyway?"

"What box?" Seryn asked with a puzzled look on her face. "Oh you mean in that first memory. That was back when I was a plushie flammie. I was in the box because Aridos was shipping me to my new owner."

"Really? Who was the lucky guy? Anyone I know?"

"I should hope you know him. After all, we've been living with him for about month now."

"Rye? Really?" I was flabbergasted. "So that's how you two met."

"Well, yeah." Seryn replied rather cheerfully. "Though it was a bit of a rocky start. He was really surprised the first time he saw me move. So surprised in fact that he knocked himself out on his own night stand."

I laughed. It didn't seem like Rye was the kind of person to freak out so much, but I guess I would have freaked out if I was put in a similar situation. "So, when you first met Rye, he was human?" I asked when I finally caught my breath. "I didn't think it was possible to transform a human into plush."

"I loved Rye, but I thought that because I was a Synthetic, Rye wouldn't love me back. I didn't know what to do, so I flew to Aridos for advice. He gave me these magic cotton seeds that could turn Rye into a plushie flammie when he ingested them." Seryn explained.

"Oh. I see. That can't have been very pleasant." I shuddered at the thought of how it would feel to have flesh turn to cloth. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad as long as you were there to see him through it." The moment I finished the sentence I got the vibe that I said something I shouldn't have. My suspicion was confirmed immediately when I felt guilt rush from Seryn.

"I wasn't there." Seryn was guiltily looking down. She sighed. "I know I should have been there. Especially after neglecting to even tell him what was going to happen." She sighed dejectedly. "I guess I was so afraid that he'd be extremely angry with me that he wouldn't want to be with me anymore."

"Was he?" I asked.

"No." She smiled and perked up a bit. "In fact, as soon as I finally came home, he chastised me a bit then proposed."

I stepped forward and gave her a hug. "You learned an important lesson then. You learned that even when you mess up, Rye will always love you. Rye loves you, and so do I. That is a fact that will never change." After struggling with it for too long, I finally admitted not only to Seryn, but to myself my true feelings. She returned the hug.

"I love you too." She whispered happily. We had both admitted it. Both to ourselves and to each other. Unbeknownst to us, Rye was watched the entire scene from behind a nearby tree. He closed his eyes and an artificial tear rolled down his cheek, but his smile never dimmed.

"Good luck, my friend." He whispered. "Don't ever let that love fade."

The sun was already setting. Seryn and I had managed to spend the entire day together and looking back, I enjoyed every moment of it. After a short while embracing each other, Seryn spun me around and wrapped her arms around my torso. She spread her wings and with a few downward strokes we were high in the sky. Everything was so amazing. The wind rushing past my face combined with the greens and browns on the ground and the blues, greens, yellows, oranges and reds of the sky made for an exceptionally exquisite experience. I closed my eyes and started to focus on what I couldn't see. The constant sound of Seryn's wings, the softness of her fur, the cool evening air and the subtle vanilla aroma that commonly followed Seryn was all working in perfected harmony. Seryn's tranquil demeanor spread into my own mind. All the elements of the flight were more than enough to deliver me to the ever caring embrace of slumber.

**END OF CHAPTER 7!**

Author's Ending Notes: I know what some of you may be thinking, but no, this story isn't going to advance into being too similar to a romance novel. I'm not going to be overplaying it that much, and this is probably as deep into that I'm gonna get. Here's hoping for Chapter 8 before another 6 months.

Look out for:

Chapter 8: The Advancement


	9. Chapter 8: The Advancement

Flammie Tales Book 1: A Wizard's Trials

Chapter 8: The Advancement

I awoke slightly. Only enough to regain my consciousness and dwell on the last memories before falling asleep. It really didn't take me long to fall asleep on the flight Seryn was kind enough to share with me. The faint sounds of breathing and a heartbeat that was not my own told me that Seryn shared in my slumber as well. I had slept quite comfortably, though I didn't know exactly where. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself being lightly grasped between Seryn's arms like a human teddy bear. Seryn was still sleeping soundly snoring faintly with every breath. We were somewhere in the plush forest; I could hear the distant sound of flowing water through the cool air of dawn. The colors on the horizon were beginning to change with the sunrise.

Careful not to wake Seryn, I pushed my way out of her embrace. I sat with my legs crossed and took a look around at the beauty of the surrounding forest when illuminated by the rising sun. Soft greens and browns slowly became more vivid as the sun peeked above the horizon and began its assent into the sky. The sky itself went through its usual transformation from the navy blue color it adapts during night to the bright oranges, greens, and pinks of dawn until finally settling with its usual sapphire color of day. Rays of sunlight whipped past the trees and settled gently on Seryn's face. Shortly after, her light snoring which sounded much like purring stopped.

I turned around just in time to see her mouth wide open in a morning yawn that ended in a cute little high-pitched sigh-like noise. "Good morning, Skyler." Seryn said sweetly as she squinted in the sunlight. "Did you sleep well my little narcoleptic?"

I playfully swatted my hand across her ear. "Actually, I did. I can't help it if I fall asleep any time we fly." She chuckled a bit.

"Maybe someday you'll get to see what it's like to fly for yourself." Seryn said.

"So, where are we anyway?" I asked after a brief pause. "I don't think I've been to this part of Plushtopia before."

"Oh?" She was feigning surprise. "We're actually not far from where you practice magic."

"Really? I really don't remember ever seeing this part of the forest before."

"Can you tell which way to go from here?" Seryn was acting as though she didn't know the way, but she wasn't hiding the fact that she knew exactly where we were.

I shrugged "Like I said, I've never been in this part of the forest before. Nothing really looks familiar."

"Okay," Seryn's eyes gleamed a bit, "I'll teach you a trick. Stop using your eyes to judge your position." I looked at her questioningly. "Close your eyes and focus your senses on the energy of the clearing. Feel for that energy as you recreate it in your mind and locate its position."

"Wouldn't it be easier and faster if you just showed me where to go?" I was a bit apprehensive to try because I didn't want to make a fool of myself.

"Yes." Seryn replied gently, "Easier perhaps, but then you wouldn't have learned anything. It's really not too hard. Just imagine the clearing in your mind and go whichever way you feel it is. Trust yourself. You can do it."

"Oh, alright. I'll try." I was still uncertain of what I was doing, but I closed my eyes and began to focus my senses anyway. I imagined the small clearing where I would practice my magic. I mentally recreated all the scents and smells and noises and energy of the place. I realized that it did have a distinct feel in the air. I tried to focus on where the place was and found it difficult to locate. After some difficulty, I finally felt what I can only explain as a pulse from my right side. I don't mean a physical pulse like the beating of a heart, but one that I only felt in my aura. It felt almost as if something was trying to lead me where I wanted to go. Without opening my eyes I shifted my body toward 'pulse.' It didn't cease. It was as if I was being tugged in that direction. I stretched my aura in that direction and began to feel the energy there. To no surprise, it felt like my training area. I opened my eyes and looked at Seryn. She was gazing at me with a feeling of pride that only increased in intensity when I pointed in the direction of the clearing. "It's that way." I said with a smile. "And not far from here either." I added confidently.

"You're right." Seryn said happily. She slowly stood up and stretched. "Come on. Let's walk and talk." She said as she extended a paw to help me up. I grabbed her paw and hoisted myself to my feet. We began walking together in the direction of the clearing.

"I've never done anything like that before. How did you know it would work?" I inquired still thinking about how I pulled a technique like that off in the first try.

"Truthfully, I didn't." Seryn admitted. "It was really just a hunch that you'd be able to do something like that. After you fell asleep, I just decided to test my hunch by taking you to a place that you didn't recognize. I had you search for the clearing because I figured that if there was any place you'd be able to sense, it'd be there. I mean you spend so much time there practicing your magic that it'd be difficult to not grow attached to it."

"So, it only really works for place I'm attached to? I guess that would make sense seeing as I had to literally recreate the area in my mind. I wonder if there would be a way to attach or bond myself to an area without spending weeks there."

"Maybe. Who knows, you may even start to be able to sense places or things that you aren't attached to. If so, we could use it to…"

"Find Mana." I finished her sentence. "I mean, even if I wasn't able to sense something I wasn't bonded to, I'd say that my destiny is intertwined with Mana's enough to call a bind."

"Maybe." Seryn said slightly skeptically. "Maybe. It sure would be helpful if that was the case, but we're just too unsure of too many things."

"Yeah. Maybe we should just ask Aridos. If anyone would know the answer, I bet he would." I said hopefully.

We reached the clearing after a few silent moments. I quickly spotted my pack where I usually left it and made my way toward it. I sat down next to it with my back to the nearby tree. Seryn settled down next to me with her torso close enough to my legs for me to feel the heat of her body.

We both sat there silently enjoying each other's presence. Soon an unhappy thought came to my mind, one that I simply couldn't ignore. "Seryn," I murmured, "For the time being, you're my familiar, right?" She thought for a moment then responded with a nod. "Aridos brought you to me from the void for that purpose. So when I eventually fulfill my duties as a wizard, are you going to disappear back into the void?" A sudden sense of sentimentality filled Seryn's mind. "I mean, you're bound to this life only by my duty to stop the Black Flammie, right? So once I accomplish that, the chains that bind you to this life will disappear, and when that happens …"

"I don't know." Seryn cut me off. "This is admittedly the first time I have been brought back under these circumstances. Heck, other than my plushie flammie form, it's the first time I've been brought back directly from the void. Every other time I came into this world as an egg and naturally hatched as a flamlet." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and memories. "I remember once long ago I was told that the reason I would relive my life so many times was because of the conflict between Mana and I. If that's the case, I may even cease to exist when that conflict finally ends." She admitted.

"If you don't disappear after Mana, will you still help me against the Black Flammie? And if you are still around even after that, will you stay with me?"

"Of course. Skyler, I love you, and completing your duties won't change that." Her words comforted my worries.

"I love you too." I leaned against her and felt her soft fur against my face. Suddenly she got extremely confident and hopeful.

"In fact, I bet our love is strong enough to keep me tethered here no matter what!" She said confidently.

I laughed. "That was so cheesy." I playfully made fun of her choice of words.

She playfully nudged me while joining in with my laughter. "Yeah, I guess I went a little overboard with that, didn't I?"

I felt a sudden wave on energy after finally catching my breath and stood up quickly. I extended my hand to Seryn. "Well then, my dear, care to train?" She nodded and we began to train and develop my magic even further. Little did I know, behind all the confidence and hopefulness, Seryn had a small amount of doubt. With things as sensitive as these, even the smallest hint of doubt can make a world of a difference.

For the rest of the day, Seryn and I worked very hard, and I finally managed to master Flame Lance. With it and Eruption, I now knew both intermediate fire spells. Then I moved on to the 2nd level water spells. Spread and Aqua Laser were fairly easy to master. Then we moved on to the earth spells of Grave and Stalagmite. In that single day, with Seryn's help of course, I was able to learn a total of 5 spells. While we did start at the crack of dawn and went all the way to nearly midnight, that's still pretty damn impressive. At this rate I'd be a master wizard in no time. Or so I thought.

The next day, Seryn and I took it easy and just hung out with each other and Rye. Rye and Seryn told the story of how they met and how Rye was transformed from a human to a Plushie Flammie, and I told stories about my family and some of the wacky things that sometimes happened to us. The day after that, Seryn made me agree to only master one more spell per day. She said she was starting to get worried that I'd overexert myself. I argued that I felt fine, but she wouldn't be swayed. It was nice to spend my extra free time relaxing with Seryn. Finally, a week had passed.

"You ready to go?" Seryn called to me cheerfully from outside my window. "Come on! You've finally mastered all the second level spells. I'm eager to see what Aridos has in store for you next." Actually, I was excited too, but I was beginning to tire of learning more and more magic every day. I pushed those feeling aside when I thought about Mana and how urgent it was that I become more powerful than him.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I called back to Seryn before rushing out the door. It was a short walk down the hallway of the deceptively small looking building, but it wasn't long before Seryn and I quickly made our way to the usual clearing. Once there, I snatched my Spell book out of my backpack and quickly flipped to the next section. To my surprise, the entire section only had a single page. It was titled "Meditation".

"Meditation

I bet you were expecting more walls of text explaining various spells and how to cast them. Not this time. Before we move on to any more spells, it has become absolutely necessary for to learn the art of meditation. This skill, when mastered, will be invaluable to you when you are trying to search for something or figure out what you should do next. It is also the quickest, easiest, and most effective way for you to release pent up stress and improve your ability to focus. Be warned though, this skill won't be easy to master, and even when it is mastered, there will still be much to learn about it.

In simple terms, to meditate is to completely clear your mind of any and all thought. Once you have achieved this feat, your mind will be much more powerful and able to accomplish things you thought only possible in your dreams. You will also be able to use your Wizard Sense more effectively while meditating.

To meditate, sit, lie, or stand in a comfortable position and relax. You may close your eyes if you wish. Focus your attention on your breathing. Keep it slow and relaxed and let more of the tension of your body be released with every exhale. Seryn, you should practice this too. It is not a technique exclusively for wizards, and it can be beneficial to any creature great or small. As an added bonus, meditating together can be quite the bonding experience."

"So, Aridos wants us to learn how to meditate." I surmised matter-of-factly.

"So it seems." Seryn replied. "I think we should give it a try." We nodded and sat down next to each other. We closed our eyes and began to relax and clear our minds.

It didn't take too long for me to feel incredibly relaxed. I could feel my own aura endlessly flowing around me, and I could also feel the flowing of Seryn's aura. I could feel warmth and energy flowing from the ground and everything around me. Most comforting of all, I could feel the comforting energy of love flow between Seryn and myself. The experience filled me with a sense of bliss.

Suddenly, the bliss of meditating for the first time was replaced with a feeling of dread. Amidst all the feelings and sensing, I had felt something that was just so out of place. So much so, that I knew exactly what it was. As I focused on the anomaly, I realize that it was a feeling of intense hatred and, for lack of a better word, blackness. My eyes burst open and I jumped to my feet. Seryn was quick to follow, though she didn't seem to have sensed what I had.

"What's wrong?" She questioned urgently. "Is there an emergency?"

"Yeah." I replied grimly. "I just sensed Mana. He's heading straight for us!"

Seryn gasped, "Where's Rye? Is he somewhere safe? What should we do?" Her questions came so quickly, I didn't have time to answer.

"Rye is at the house, probably still asleep. We have to go wake him up and warn him. Then we need to get you two to safety. I'll deal with Mana alone this time."

Seryn looked a little disappointed. She crouched down and let me climb onto her back. She then quickly took off toward the house. "I thought we were going to fight Mana together." She argued on the way.

"Don't worry, I have a plan. This certainly won't be the big confrontation with him. I wouldn't leave you out of that for anything. I just have to show him how much stronger I am and make him back off while you and Rye hide." I explained. Seryn didn't take much comfort in my words.

We arrived at the house. I told Seryn to wait out side for a moment while I went and got Rye. I ran into the house and sprinted into Rye's room. As I thought, he was sleeping soundly. I quickly woke him up and told him that Mana was coming. We both rushed outside to meet Seryn.

I could sense Mana just beyond the horizon. "Quick you two, get inside. Go to the end of the hallway. That's the only place you will be safe." Both Rye and Seryn looked astonished. Rye opened his mouth to protest, but I spoke again before he could. "Rye, I'm sure Seryn will understand, and now is not the time to have this argument. Right now, I just need to know that you both are safe." He nodded understandingly, but Seryn still hesitated. "You can do it, Seryn. I know you're afraid of the dark back there, but don't worry. Rye will be right with you to lead the way. I'm not letting you go back to the void so soon. I'll come and get you when it's safe." She was somewhat reassured, but still she didn't move.

"But what … what if you don't come and get us?" Seryn asked hesitantly.

"Don't think like that. I'll be fine, just go! Mana's almost here!" I could feel the fear flowing from Seryn, but I needed her to be safe no matter what. She took a few paces toward the door, but she still hesitated. Rye opened the door and nudged her inside. I closed it after they were both finally in relative safety.

I didn't have any time to relax. As soon as I shut the door, Mana came into sight and looked amused as he watched me summon my staff. He landed around ten feet in front of me. I was ready for the fight of my life, but I had decided to let Mana make the first move. He only chuckled when he saw me ready to fight.

"Tell me where she is, runt, and I will allow you to live." He offered devilishly.

I simply scoffed. "Did you really expect me to believe you? Even if I did tell you where Seryn is, you would still either kill me or turn me into a shadow flammie, and that's no way to live."

An evil grin appeared on Mana's face. "You're not as naïve as you look." He took a deep breath and shot a beam of pure black energy at me, but I was ready. I smacked the energy with my staff and deflected it away from me and into the ground. Mana's grin disappeared and his crimson eyes glared at me.

Not a moment later, Mana charged at me with his teeth bared and his claws at the ready. I lifted my staff into the air and quickly charged it with my aura. I brought it down hard on Mana's head as he drew close. Normally, a human's strength would be easily out-matched by a flammie's, but I had learned to use my aura to increase the effectiveness of my blows. Mana learned this the hard way when his jaw literally hit the ground. I quickly jumped away from Mana to regain some of the ground I had lost. He got up growling, but I was already ready to let loose with a spell.

"Stalagmite!" I yelled while swinging my staff upwards. To Mana's surprise, the ground beneath him shifted and rose up to fling him into the air. As he fell back down, it did so twice more ending in a dull point.

"Air Blade!" I cast the second spell before Mana had a chance to reach the ground or regain his balance. I huge focused gust of wind blew him far off into the distance. He tumbled in the air and started falling. Before he hit the ground he caught himself with his wings and began to fly away. I had managed to take him by surprise and fight him off for now.

The victory was bitter sweet. It was a fluke, and I knew it. The next time we met, Mana would be ready for anything I could throw at him. With a sigh I turned and made my way to Seryn and Rye to tell them they're safe.

I opened the door and took a few steps into the site of Seryn's grave. "Skyler!" She burst through the woods and tackled me playfully. "I'm so glad you're okay!" She nuzzled me and refused to let go. "How did you beat Mana?"

"Well, I kinda just took him by surprise. I knew he'd underestimate me, so I went all-out and it worked." Seryn finally let go and stood back up. She offered a paw to help me back to my feet and I gladly accepted. "I managed to pull a victory, but he'll be ready next time. I hate to say it, but it's no longer safe here for us. We have to leave Plushtopia."

She sighed. "You're right. I'll miss Rye, but as you said, it's not safe anymore. The only question is where we go from here." She paused for a moment thinking about places where we should be safe. Her eyes lit up as she thought of such a place. "Luckily, I know another place that'll be safe, and guess what."

"What?"

"You're finally gonna meet some other flammies!"

Seryn and I agreed to leave Plushtopia the next morning. A new place awaited us. New challenges and revelations were sure to come.

**END OF CHAPTER 8!**

Author's Ending Notes: Okay, so it's a little…well…a lot later than I promised it, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter 9…isn't even fully written yet ^_^; Sorry, but it's probably gonna be a while before that one.


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